Dancing in the Shadows
by SilenceintheLibrary13
Summary: A companion to the Shadows trilogy, this is just a series of short stories about Jane, Maura, and their children. Each chapter is a self-contained story. Full of fluff and smut! **This one will not be updated frequently, as I am working on other things right now, but I will keep adding over time!**
1. Chapter 1: Maura's Birthday

Chapter 1 – Maura's Birthday

 _In which Jane and Maura try to get sexy for the first time after Eva's arrival_

August 7, 2018

Dawn was just breaking when Jane woke up. To her left, she could hear the sound of Eva's steady breathing in her bassinet. She was still asleep. To Jane's right, Maura was also sound asleep, her arm draped loosely over Jane. So Jane was the first one awake, just as she'd planned. She took a moment to appreciate her surroundings, as she often did. Never at any point in her past would she have pictured herself here: waking up each morning in a king-sized bed, enveloped in luxurious silk sheets, an exquisitely beautiful woman beside her. Jane still felt somewhat out of place amidst all these luxury things, but this was what Maura was used to and what she deserved. And while Jane would never have admitted it, she was actually starting to _like_ living like this. She wasn't sure she could ever go back to sleeping on a lumpy mattress with cotton sheets. She was certain she would never be able to go back to sleeping alone, without Maura's warmth beside her.

Today was Maura's 42nd birthday. Jane had the whole day planned out, assuming everything went according to plan. Their lives for the past two months had been all about sleep deprivation, breastfeeding, diapers, and potty training. But the mother of Jane's children, the woman who had given birth to her first child and delivered the second one, deserved the have the best birthday ever. Today was going to be all about Maura. To start with, Jane planned to bring her breakfast in bed, but she knew it was unrealistic to think she could sneak out of bed and make a fancy breakfast while corralling a two-year-old _and_ a two-month-old, all before Maura woke up. So she had enlisted the help of her mother. She supposed there had to be some situations where having your mother live with you actually _helped_ with romance.

Jane noticed Eva starting to stir and quickly slid out from under Maura's arm, gliding easily across silk sheets and out of the bed. She lifted Eva from her bassinet before she could make a sound and carried her from the room.

"I know, I know," Jane whispered. "Just give me a second. We have to let Mommy sleep this morning." She went into Eva's nursery and sat down in the glider, quickly lifting her tank top to give the baby access to her boob. Eva quickly latched on and started devouring her breakfast while Jane grabbed a pillow and made herself more comfortable. "There you go," she said softly. "We don't have to worry about bothering Mommy in here." She lightly touched Eva's wispy blonde hair, still amazed that she had squeezed this perfect tiny human out of her vagina. Her vagina hadn't seen any action since then, but she was hoping to change that tonight. Maura deserved some loving for her birthday. They'd been too tired to think about it much, and Jane had needed time to physically recover from childbirth anyway, but tonight – tonight was the night. Jane thought she was up for it, and she knew Maura was. Several days ago she'd caught Maura masturbating in bed and had sleepily reached over to stroke her wife's clit until she shuddered with orgasm, but she didn't think that really counted as sex. Tonight, when the kids were asleep, they would do the real thing. That would be Maura's final birthday present for the day.

"Mama!" Jane looked up to see Charlotte toddling into the room, a board book in one hand and her stuffed rabbit in the other.

"Shhh," said Jane. "We have to whisper. Mommy's still sleeping."

"Okay," Charlotte replied in a stage whisper, climbing up into the glider and wedging herself between Jane and the arm of the chair. Eva stopped nursing for a moment to look at her big sister, then resumed.

"It's Mommy's birthday," Jane told Charlotte. "We're going to bring her breakfast in bed."

"Can we make birthday cake?"

"Of course, but not until later." Jane hugged Charlotte tight with the arm that wasn't holding Eva. "I am one lucky mommy, do you know that?"

Charlotte gave her a funny look. "You're not Mommy. You're Mama."

"Fine, I'm a lucky _Mama_ , because I have the two best babies in the world."

"I'm not a baby. Eva's a baby."

"Well you know what, Smartypants? You're always going to be _my_ baby." She kissed Charlotte's curly little head. "Oh no, I sound just like your Grandma. I _am_ turning into my mother." She looked down at Charlotte. "Which mother do you think you'll turn into?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Eva's done eating. Let's go see if Grandma is downstairs."

Jane took both girls down to the kitchen, where Angela was making French toast as she'd promised.

"Hi girls!" she said cheerfully, looking up from the stove.

"Hey Ma," replied Jane. "How's breakfast coming?"

"The eggs are ready, the French toast is almost ready, and the muffins are in the oven. I also have coffee brewing, and I picked up some flowers at the market yesterday. I thought it would be a nice touch to put flowers on her tray."

"I didn't even think of that! Ma, you are a lifesaver!" Jane gratefully kissed her mother on the cheek before opening the fridge to look for fruit. She threw some assorted berries into a bowl (one-handedly, since she was still carrying Eva) and put it on the tray with the eggs. When the French toast was done, she sprinkled powdered sugar over it and stuck in a birthday candle, digging a book of matches out of a drawer. She added coffee and a muffin as soon as they were ready, stuck a few flowers in a vase, gave Charlotte a muffin, and handed Eva to her mother.

"You hold her while I take Maura her breakfast," she said.

"My pleasure!" said Angela. "Come here to Grandma! You are the sweetest little baby! Yes you are!" She covered Eva's face with kisses and Eva broke into a toothless smile.

 _She has Maura's smile_ , Jane thought fondly as she picked up the tray and carefully carried it upstairs. Maura was still asleep, but she stirred a little at Jane's approach. Jane set the tray down on the bed and planted a kiss on Maura's brow. "Good morning, beautiful," she said as Maura's eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning," Maura replied groggily, stretching.

"I love that you answer to 'beautiful,'" Jane observed.

"It's obvious you're talking to me."

"You're damn right it is." Jane gave her a kiss. "Anyway, happy birthday! I brought you breakfast!"

Maura looked at the tray in surprise. "You cooked all this?"

"Nah, I got Ma to do it. But it was my idea." She moved the tray closer to Maura, who reached for a berry.

"You've never brought me breakfast in bed before," said Maura. "It looks amazing."

"To be fair, I've _thought_ about it before. I just never quite got my act together until now."

Maura smiled, taking a sip of her coffee before picking up the fork.

"Wait, you can't eat your French toast until you blow out the candle," insisted Jane. She grabbed a match and lit the candle. "I won't torture you with my singing. Just make a wish."

Maura smiled. "I don't know what to wish for. I already have everything I want."

"You can wish that I'll manage on my own with two babies when you go back to work next week."

"I already know you will." Maura looked down at the flame and blew it out. Jane watched her face as she started on her French toast. There were a few subtle lines there that hadn't been present when Jane first met Maura, but she was no less beautiful for it. She put her hand on Maura's face and ran her thumb lightly over the lines near her eye.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Maura.

"I'm just thinking about how beautiful you are, how much I love you, how glad I am that you were born."

Maura tilted her head, blushing. "I'm glad I was born too. I wish I'd known, during unhappy times in my younger years, just how good my life was going to get."

"But if you had known, you would never have gotten to find out just how brave you are. You have to be brave to keep going when you don't even know if things will get better."

"Perhaps you're right." Maura took a bite out of her muffin. "This is good! What's in it?"

"Apples, cherries, pears, and pecans. And it's symbolic of what's to come. I was thinking, when the kids are asleep tonight, maybe you could snack a little on my muffin."

"You have a different one?"

"Well, I mean, yeah…"

"What flavor is it?"

"Maura, I know it's been a while since you've, you know, sampled it, but I think it's still the same as before. I mean, it's been through some stuff, but it's recovered pretty well."

Maura frowned. "Are we talking about the same thing?"

"Apparently not. Did you think I meant a literal muffin?"

"What other kind of muffin is there?"

"The lady bits kind?"

"People call that a muffin?"

"Sometimes, yes."

"I wasn't familiar with that particular euphemism."

"Well, that's what you have me for. My point is, I wanna sex you up tonight, for your birthday. If you want me too, anyway."

Maura grinned. "I definitely want you to. I've been having a lot of dreams about sex lately. In one dream, we were still just friends and we'd never had sex and I didn't think you would ever want to and it was _killing_ me."

Jane laughed. "It _has_ been a while. But I think it's been long enough. I'm not sore anymore, and Eva's sleeping a little more now. It's time we got sexy again. I know a lady has needs, and I'm here to take care of yours."

A sly smile spread across Maura's face. "Why wait? We're alone right now."

"Well, we _could_ , but I told Ma I was just taking you breakfast."

"What are the girls doing?"

"Charlotte's having breakfast and Eva's being doted on by her grandmother."

"That could take a while. Maybe you could just give me a little taste of what's to come?"

Jane licked her lips. "I can try."

"It _is_ my birthday." Maura continued eating, but she spread her legs a bit. Jane felt heat rising in her as she put her hand under the blanket and slid it up Maura's thigh, underneath her nightgown, knowing that Maura often slept without underwear.

"Two months is a long time to be deprived of this pussy," Jane murmured, lovingly caressing her before parting her softness and touching a fingertip to her clit. Maura cried out softly as Jane began gently stroking her…

…and then they heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"If I ever complain about living in a creaky old house, remind me of this," Jane muttered after quickly withdrawing her hand. They both tried to look innocent as Angela came in with Eva in her arms and Charlotte by her side.

"Happy birfday Mommy!" Charlotte cried joyfully, climbing onto the bed with Angela's help.

"Aww, thank you, sweetie," said Maura. "I will _always_ have a happy birthday as long as I'm surrounded by my favorite people, like I am right now." Eva reached her little arms out to Maura, and Angela handed her over.

"Well, you might as well open a few presents," said Jane. She extracted some wrapped gifts from her closet. "Here you go. This one's from me."

Maura carefully undid the tape on the wrapping paper and extracted a flat, square box, removing the lid to reveal a royal blue satin dress from one of her favorite boutiques, a dress that would cling to her in all the right places. "Oh, Jane," she said. "It's so pretty! Thank you!"

"I have a decent idea of what you like by now," said Jane modestly. "The next one's from Charlotte." She handed the present to Charlotte, who proudly presented it to Maura.

"That's your shoes!" Charlotte told her excitedly.

"Good job keeping it a secret," said Jane, shaking her head as Maura opened the package to reveal a pair of heels covered in the same blue satin as the dress, with crystals fastened on over the toes.

"Thank you, Charlotte!" she said. "I have a whole outfit now!"

"No outfit is complete without accessories!" Jane declared, handing Maura a small present. "This is from Eva."

Maura excitedly unwrapped the package to discover a gold necklace with a DNA double helix pendant and matching earrings. "Oh, I love them!" she exclaimed. "These will be perfect to wear at work!"

"And they'll be perfect to wear at dinner," said Jane. "We have a table reserved tonight on the patio at the Gaslight Brasserie. The whole Sunday dinner crowd will be there, and you'll have a cake with 42 candles." Maura frowned. "Just kidding. I'm not sure how many candles there will be, but there will be no mention of your age. And I have one more present for you, although it's not exactly _for_ you." She went back to the closet and pulled out a slinky red dress. "This is what I'm wearing tonight. Of my own free will, as painful as it is. I know what you like to see me wear, and I like the way you look at me when I wear what you like. And it _is_ your birthday."

"I helped her pick it out," beamed Angela. "She's going to look _so pretty_!" She reached out to pat Jane's cheek, but Jane squirmed away from her.

Maura smiled. "Jane. You really went all out this year!"

"Well, we haven't been out of the house much for a while, and it's been a stressful year, which we survived only because _you're_ so amazing. So I really wanted to make this an extra special birthday for you."

Maura looked around at Eva cradled in the crook of her arm, Charlotte sitting at her other side, her breakfast and gifts before her. "Well it's already the best birthday I've ever had, and I haven't even gotten out of bed yet!"

XXX

Dinner at the French restaurant that night was much like any other Rizzoli family event: loud and chaotic, but still fun. Maura in particular seemed thrilled that everyone had come out for her birthday. There were more presents, escargots for the appetizer (Jane didn't touch them, but Charlotte, to Maura's delight, thought they were good) and a chocolate ganache cake. Charlotte and T.J. chased each other around the patio, and everyone tried to feel baby Barry kicking inside Nina's belly (he wouldn't behave for Jane, but Maura got to feel a few kicks).

"When we get home, you can have your dessert," Jane muttered into Maura's ear while they were gathering up opened presents and leftover cake.

Maura frowned. "I thought the cake was the dessert."

"Really, Maura? You're killing me today! I mean your _other_ dessert! The kind that's not food!"

Maura looked confused for a second, and then realization dawned on her face. "Oh! I _am_ looking forward to that. You look positively scrumptious tonight."

"And that's why I called it 'dessert.'"

When they got home, they employed the old divide-and-conquer approach to getting the girls to sleep. Maura read Charlotte a bedtime story while Jane nursed Eva, and before long they were both in bed. Jane put Eva in her bassinet and turned on the video monitor that gave them a view of Charlotte asleep in her room. Maura came into the bedroom, closed the door behind her, and grinned seductively at Jane.

"Well," said Jane quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You remember how to do this?"

"Of course!" replied Maura. "It isn't the sort of thing you forget."

"Just making sure. It's been a while. I might be a little rusty."

"Oh, I think it'll come back to you." Maura unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor, revealing a lacy black bra and panties set – and an amazing figure. Jane bit her lip as Maura came closer. As soon as she was within reach, Jane put her hands on Maura's hips and pulled her in for a passionate kiss, Maura's tongue entering her mouth almost immediately. Jane felt around for Maura's bra clasp and unfastened it, sliding the bra down Maura's arms. She broke away from the kiss to take in the sight of her wife's perfect tits. She cupped them in her hands and slid her tongue slowly over soft, delicate skin, savoring the taste. She nibbled a little at one nipple and licked off the milk that dripped out.

"I missed these," she murmured before sliding her hands downwards, hooking her thumbs over the waistband of Maura's panties, and tugging them down. Maura stepped out of them and climbed into Jane's lap, wrapping her legs around Jane's waist and her arms around Jane's neck. Jane ran her fingers through Maura's hair, reveling in the feeling of this sexy woman wrapped around her. "I fucking love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," Maura whispered back. "Now _touch_ me."

Jane was more than happy to oblige. She slid her left hand between them into Maura's wetness, her right hand gripping Maura's ass. She traced circles around Maura's hardened clit before easily sliding two fingers inside of her. Maura let out a soft moan, gripping Jane tighter and moving her hips forwards to better take her in. Jane began to fuck her, starting out nice and slow but knowing she would work her way into a frenzy, because that was how Maura liked it. Maura threw her head back, heaving her breasts right into Jane's face. Jane increased her pressure inside Maura, licking and nibbling her boobs as they bobbed in her face. There could be no greater bliss than this, she decided. This was as good as it got.

"Mommy! Mama!"

They both froze at the sound of Charlotte's voice on the other side of the door.

"I thought she was asleep," Jane hissed

"She was asleep when I left her room!"

Jane groaned as Maura slid off her lap. "I'd better get this, since I still have clothes on." She hastily wiped her fingers and went out to the hall to see what her daughter wanted.

"There's a bad monster in my closet," Charlotte informed her.

Jane rubbed her face. "Are you sure it's not just Cookie Monster?"

"It's a bad monster," Charlotte insisted, her eyes wide. "The door's open."

"Mommy probably just forgot to close it. Which I'm sure she's regretting now."

"Come look," Charlotte implored her.

"All right, I'll check it out," said Jane, following the toddler across the hall.

Charlotte's closet door was indeed ajar. Jane opened it all the way, turned on the closet light, and went in to look around. Charlotte watched from the middle of the room.

"Okay, there's nothing in here but clothes and toys, and shoes. You have a lot of shoes for a two-year-old," Jane told her.

"I know," said Charlotte.

"Do you now? You probably don't think it's that much, because you've been in Mommy's shoe closet and you think that's what's normal. But it's not. Mommy has too many shoes."

"We give Mommy new shoes."

"Yeah, you're right. We're enabling her. We need to stop."

Charlotte gave her a blank look.

"Get over here and look. There's no monster in the closet, good or bad."

Charlotte crept closer and peered into the closet.

"See? No monsters." Jane turned out the light and firmly shut the closet door. "Now get back in bed."

"I'm not sleepy."

"Yeah you are. Get in bed and you'll see."

"I'm firsty."

"If you drink water now, you'll need to pee."

Charlotte blinked at her. "I'm _firsty_." She stuck her tongue out as if to show how parched it was.

"Oh, all right. Just a few sips!" Jane went into the bathroom and came back with just a little water in a cup, which Charlotte drank right down.

"Can you read me a story?" Charlotte tilted her head adorably, just like Maura did sometimes.

"Fine," sighed Jane. "A short story. I get to pick." _Maura's going to be all dried up by the time I get this kid to sleep_ , Jane thought glumly. She sat down on the edge of Charlotte's daybed and read _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ until Charlotte's eyes began to droop. Then she tiptoed back across the hall to her own bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Maura jumped up. "She's asleep?"

"I think so."

"Good. I was touching myself so I would stay wet." Maura pushed Jane back down so she was sitting on the edge of the bed again. "Let's pick up where we left off."

She climbed back onto Jane's lap, wrapping arms and legs around her again. Jane was pleased to find that her wife's pussy was still dripping wet, so she lubed up her fingers and plunged back inside. Soon she was fucking her hard, Maura rocking on her lap, tits bouncing in Jane's face again while Jane nipped and licked and sucked. Soon Maura's pussy clenched around Jane's fingers as she came as quietly as she could.

"Damn I missed that," breathed Jane. "We couldn't do that when I was pregnant, but I _love_ having you wrapped around me like that."

"I love it too!" Maura slid off Jane's lap. "Your dress is quite wet. We'd better get it off of you."

She pulled Jane into a standing position and unzipped her dress. Jane stepped out of it as it fell to the floor and allowed Maura to quickly remove her bra and panties with nimble fingers.

"Oh, Jane," Maura breathed. "Just let me look at you. I haven't really had the chance to just stare at your body since Eva got here."

"Well, all right," said Jane, feeling a bit self-conscious. "Stare away."

"You look sexier than ever before. Having a baby worked wonders on you."

"Really? I haven't been _feeling_ too sexy."

"But look at yourself. Your hips have gotten curvier," said Maura, lightly tracing Jane's hips with her fingers. "And your breasts are much fuller." She traced these too. "Your face has filled out a bit as well. It's softer, less angular. Your whole body is softer."

"Yeah, cause I haven't lost all the weight."

"You don't need to lose any more. Your body mass index was too low before the pregnancy."

"You kept telling me that, but when I tried to make up for it by eating junk food, you got on my case for consuming empty calories."

"That's because I wanted you to put on weight with the proper nutrition. But you didn't listen to me until you were pregnant. Just _look_ at you. You're so –"

Jane never got to find out what she was, because Maura cut herself off by pressing her lips to Jane's skin. She planted kisses all over Jane's shoulders, arms, chest, and breasts. Some kisses were staccato, while others were more fluid, her tongue dragging across Jane's skin in between. Her fingers traced up and down Jane's back and buttocks as her mouth worked. Jane threaded the fingers of one hand through Maura's hair, her other hand sliding down Maura's back. She felt a gush of liquid between her legs.

"Oh, Maura," she murmured. "I need you. I need you right –"

A soft cry came from the bassinet. They both froze, hoping it was an isolated event, but it was followed by more fussing. Jane groaned.

"I'll get her," said Maura. She went over to the bassinet and lifted Eva out. "What's wrong, my sweet little girl? What do you need?" she asked her gently. Eva immediately began rooting around until she found Maura's nipple, then latched on and started drinking. Maura sat down on the bed, and Jane gave her a pillow to put under her arm.

"As much as I hate being interrupted, I love that we can both nurse her," said Jane.

"Yes, for a little while longer," agreed Maura. "I don't know how soon I'll dry up after I go back to work. She won't like it though. She's used to having us both for this."

"I'm pretty sure Charlotte thought I was just holding out on her when she was a baby. It made me feel bad."

"I haven't tasted your milk yet," said Maura. "I would like to."

"Well, when she's done drinking, you can have a little taste. I don't mind." Jane curled up on the bed, feeling both tired and horny, and watched Maura feed their baby. Jane was on the verge of dozing off when Eva went to sleep and Maura put her back in the bassinet. She opened her eyes again as Maura climbed back in bed and, with little warning, took Jane's nipple in her mouth and began gulping down milk.

"Whoa, slow down there," said Jane. "If you swallow it that fast, I'm gonna need to throw you over my shoulder and burp you."

Maura giggled. "It's good. Your milk is good."

"I'm glad you like it. I made it myself."

Maura turned onto her back. "Come here. I want you to sit on my face."

"Wow. Okay."

"If you want to, that is."

"Of _course_ I want to." Jane moved to straddle Maura's face. She always worried that this position was a little demeaning to Maura, but then she'd certainly never felt demeaned when Maura was the one doing the face sitting. She loved nothing more than having Maura's pussy drip all over her face. So she got into position and Maura started lapping up her juices, running her soft tongue all over outer lips, then inner, then dipping it into her vagina before finally zeroing in on her clit. Jane let out a soft cry, trying to keep it under control, but _damn_. This felt good. This was exactly what she needed. She felt sexy again, she felt _alive_ , she felt—

"Mama!"

" _Noooo_ ," Jane groaned, rolling off of Maura. "What does she _want_ from us?"

Maura laughed. "One day they'll be older and we'll wish they could be little again."

"I doubt we'll wish that while we're having sex." Jane looked at Maura. "Your face is pretty wet, so I think I'd better get this one." She shrugged into a robe and went out to the hallway.

"Mama, I peed the bed," Charlotte informed her.

"I told you that would happen if you drank water at bedtime," said Jane. "Let me change your sheets for you."

Charlotte watched without remorse as Jane pulled off the soiled sheets, stuffed them into the hamper, and pulled new sheets out of the closet. With the bed made up, she changed Charlotte into clean pajamas and read her another damn story (but did not allow her another drink of water). Finally, she returned to Maura…who was sleeping.

"Maura," Jane whispered. "Maura!"

"Hmm?" Maura opened her eyes. "Jane! You're back! Is she asleep?"

"Yeah. Hopefully she'll stay that way this time. Are you gonna be able to finish what you started?"

"Of course! Where were we?"

"I was sitting on your face."

Maura turned onto her back and licked her lips. "I'm ready for you. Get back on."

Chuckling, Jane straddled her wife once again. Maura ran her tongue all around Jane's pussy to get her aroused again, then started sucking her clit hard. Jane gasped, struggling to stay quiet. She damn well wasn't going to wake up either of those kids again, but _fuck_. Maura had not lost her touch during their hiatus. Jane closed her eyes, gripping the headboard as orgasm finally took her.

"Oh, Maura," she sighed happily, dropping onto the bed beside her wife. "I've missed this."

"Me too." Maura ran her tongue around her face as far as it could reach. "Now that we're done having kids, I hope we can avoid ever going that long without sex again."

"I second that motion." Jane snuggled up to Maura and closed her eyes, feeling sleep already pulling her in. "Happy birthday, gorgeous."


	2. Chapter 2: Valentine's Day

Chapter 2: Valentine's Day

 _In which Maura has a sexy surprise for Jane_

February 14, 2020

"I have a delivery for a Dr. Isles?"

Maura looked up from her desk and smiled at the delivery man. She had been expecting this. Jane always sent something to her office for Valentine's Day. She'd give her something in person, too, but it was fun to get something at work so everyone could see how sweet her wife was. She rushed to the door and took the bouquet and candy box from the delivery man, thanked him, and went back to the desk to inspect her prize.

The bouquet was a lovely mix of purple hyacinths, lavender, and pink roses, with ivy mixed in to set it off. She inhaled the scent deeply before lifting the lid from the candy box. Inside were chocolate-covered strawberries drizzled with pink and red icing. Maura plucked one and bit into it, reaching for the card. It contained a message Jane had written (as usual) in all caps:

 _MAURA-_

 _I STILL DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY THE SWEETEST, SMARTEST, MOST LOVING, MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN ON EARTH CHOSE TO SPEND HER LIFE WITH ME, BUT I'M GLAD YOU DID. I LOVE YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER. I WILL NEVER STOP COURTING YOU._

 _XOXO, JANE_

Maura teared up after reading that, but made sure she was composed as Kent came into the room.

"I got the results back on – oh. That must be from Detective Rizzoli."

"Yes. It _is_ Valentine's Day." Maura smiled broadly. "She's the best. She's really the sweetest person I've ever known."

"Well, maybe one day she'll let someone other than you see that side of her."

"Other people get glimpses sometimes."

"So far, I've not had the honor."

Maura suppressed a smile. She doubted Kent would ever have the honor. He gave up his chances of that the day he wrongfully kissed Maura.

"She's really sweet with the girls too," said Maura, taking another bite of her strawberry.

"I see. You know, studies have shown that men spend almost twice as much as women on Valentine's Day gifts."

"That doesn't surprise me, but Jane and I are both women."

"Yes, but she tends to have the more masculine role in your marriage, doesn't she?"

"She has the role of Jane, and I have the role of Maura. That's all. And I think she'll be very pleased with what I got her. You can leave the report on my desk."

When Kent was gone, Maura sent Jane a text thanking her for the flowers and strawberries.

 _You're welcome, beautiful lady_ , was the reply. _And thank YOU for my special Red Sox bouquet._

Maura smiled. This year she had gone with a simple bouquet of red and white roses in a Red Sox mug, because Jane had broken her old mug. _Did you look inside the envelope yet?_

 _Not yet. I'm just getting back to my office._ _They delivered while I was teaching a class, and I've learned from experience to read your notes in private._

 _Well, open it!_

Maura waited a minute, looking over the report Kent had brought. Then she got another text that simply said: _AAAAHHHHHHHH!_

Maura giggled. _So you found the Sox tickets?_

 _First home game! And right behind the plate!_

 _It's close to the spot where we were married. I thought it would be romantic._

 _You are the BEST. I just read your card. You're going to have a surprise for me in the bedroom tonight?_

 _Yes :)_

 _Any hints?_

 _It's sweet. It's something we haven't tried before._

 _…is it an apparatus?_

 _No. It's something that will get used up._

 _Some new kind of lube?_

 _No. Stop guessing. You'll see tonight. :)_

XXX

Maura went out to eat with Jane on her lunch break, but she still wouldn't tell her what the surprise was. Jane gave Maura earrings, and Maura gave Jane another rare signed baseball for her collection. Then Maura went back to work for the afternoon while Jane went home to their girls. Maura was happy when it was finally time for her to go home and be with her three Valentines.

The first thing she heard when she walked in the door was Charlotte yelling "Mommy's home!" The little girl, who was now almost four, came barreling out into the hallway carrying a pink construction paper heart. "Mommy, I made you a Valentine!"

Maura quickly set down her flowers and strawberries and knelt before her daughter. "Let me see it." She took the heart from Charlotte's hands and saw, scrawled in purple crayon, the words "LOVE MOMMY CHARLOTTE." There were several lopsided crayon hearts, in different colors, around the letters. "Oh, Charlotte, it's beautiful! Thank you!" She meant it. She was going to keep this Valentine until the day she died.

"Grandma helped me spell 'love' and 'Mommy,'" Charlotte explained. "I already knew how to spell 'Charlotte.'"

"Of course you do, because you're my smart girl." Maura hugged her close. "I love you so much."

"I love you too Mommy!"

"I have something for you too." Maura pulled a small heart-shaped box of chocolates with a unicorn on the front from her purse and gave it to Charlotte. "Where's your sister? I have one for her too."

"She's in the living room playing with blocks. She's doing that color thing again."

Maura looked up to see Jane smiling at her from the living room doorway.

"Hey pretty lady," said Jane.

Maura stood up and went over to her wife, kissing her in greeting before looking past her at Eva. The 20-month-old was deep in concentration, stacking painted wooden blocks into one red tower, one yellow tower, and one blue tower. This was what she always wanted to do with the blocks, and the colors always had to be in that order. Once Charlotte had tried to "help" her and put a blue block in the yellow stack, causing Eva to cry like the world was ending.

"I worry about her," Maura murmured to Jane. "It's not normal for kids to do that with their blocks. I'm afraid something's wrong."

"What are you talking about? The kid's perfect. Look how smart she is! She sorts them all by color, and she knows the names of the colors, too."

"I'd feel better if she'd build a house or something just once."

"She can think about getting a career as an architect when she's two. She's fine doing this for now."

Eva finally looked up from her blocks and noticed Maura. "Mommy!" she squealed delightedly, and Maura grinned. Whatever her quirks might be, Eva was a happy child.

"Hi baby girl," said Maura, stepping forward to lift the child into her arms. Eva planted a dainty kiss on Maura's cheek and wrapped her arms around her neck, laying her head on Maura's shoulder. Maura held her tight and decided Jane was right. The child might be odd, but she was still absolutely perfect.

They ordered in that night and had a lovely Valentine's Day dinner as a family. Once the children were asleep, Maura brought up a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and a small bag containing Jane's final surprise.

"Okay, I need to see what sort of kinky sex toy you've brought home," said Jane, reaching for the bag.

"It's not a toy. I told you, it's something that will get used up. We should try to use it all tonight while it's still fresh."

Jane reached into the bag and extracted a jar and paintbrush. She squinted at the label. "Chocolate body paint?"

Maura grinned. "Doesn't it sound like fun? I need to microwave it first so it can reach the correct viscosity. And we should put some old sheets over the bed so we don't ruin the good ones."

Jane chuckled. "You're always thinking of way to keep things fresh, aren't you?"

"I'll never stop courting you," Maura told her. "Could you get a fire going while I grab some old sheets?"

"Sure. Whatever you say, Queen of Romance."

Maura pulled out Jane's old bedsheets from the linen closet and spread them over the bed. She had to overlap a couple sets since Jane's bed had been only a queen and the one they had now was a king. Then she ran downstairs to heat up the chocolate body paint and came back to find Jane pouring champagne in front of a crackling fire.

"Are you ready to be painted?" Maura asked excitedly.

"Sure," said Jane. "Those kids had better sleep like logs tonight, because I don't want to have to explain to them why their mommies are covered in chocolate."

Maura giggled. "Sit on the bed."

Jane sat obediently, sipping her champagne. "Are these sheets from my old apartment?"

"Yes." Maura unbuttoned Jane's shirt and slid it off of her, revealing her tank top.

"I didn't know we still had these."

Maura dipped her brush into the warm, liquid chocolate and began painting a lion on Jane's upper arm. "I held onto them just in case. You never know when you'll have a need for ratty old sheets."

"'Ratty old sheets.' You didn't think they were that bad when I was fucking you on them."

Maura slipped the straps of Jane's tank top, and her bra under that, down so she could access her shoulder better. "Oh, I would have had sex with you anywhere." She decided it would make more sense to completely undress Jane from the waist up and promptly did so.

"Are you recreating that fake prison tat you painted on me when I was going undercover back when Charlotte was a baby?"

Maura smiled. "Yes. I enjoyed painting that on you."

"I liked having you paint me, except if would have been more fun if there hadn't been other people around."

"So you like the sensation of a brush on your skin?" She dragged the brush slowly up Jane's neck.

"I…yes. I do. It's actually a pretty big turn-on."

"Good." Maura lightly painted her way back down Jane's neck, over her shoulder and arm.

"Damn," said Jane softly. "That gives me goosebumps. The good kind."

"The lion's coming out pretty well. Do you mind if I take a picture?"

"Are my tits gonna be in the picture?"

"I won't show it to anyone."

"Let me cover them." Jane put her hands over her breasts while Maura took the picture.

"You're being silly," said Maura. "It's not like you don't have naked pictures of me."

"They're in a passworded folder on my computer. You get a folder like that, you can take naked pictures of me."

"Really?"

"Maybe."

Maura dipped the brush back in the chocolate and began a new design on Jane's chest that extended onto her breasts.

"Oh, wow," said Jane as Maura gently painted her nipples.

"You like this?"

"I do. You're working on a real masterpiece there."

"Well, I _was_ ," said Maura, frowning. "But it's dripping too much. I must have had too much on my brush."

" _Darn_. I guess you're going to have to just lick it all off."

Maura couldn't help giggling. "I suppose I don't have much choice, do I?" She slowly traced back over the lines and shapes with her tongue, lingering when she reached the tender flesh of Jane's breasts. Jane set her empty champagne glass down and ran her fingers through Maura's hair.

"I wanna paint you," she murmured. "I wanna paint your tits."

Maura finished lapping up the chocolate and shimmied out of her dress, looking seductively at her wife as she unhooked her bra and dropped it to the floor.

"I never get tired of looking at these," Jane breathed, taking Maura's breasts in her hands and running her thumbs over her nipples.

"Paint me," Maura commanded.

"I don't have your artistic skills, but I'll do my best." Jane picked up the jar and brush.

"I'm not skilled artistically."

"I know you've been conditioned to think you're not because of your mom being a professional artist, but compared to the average person, you're actually pretty talented. I mean, this is the level of _my_ artistic skill." She painted a smiley face on Maura's stomach and then licked it off. Maura giggled, burying her hands in Jane's glorious mane. "Now these are already a work of art," said Jane before painting spirals on Maura's breasts. She drizzled warm chocolate on each nipple and sucked it back off, then ran her tongue along each chocolate spiral.

"Oh Jane," Maura moaned. "I need you."

"Need me to paint your pussy?" Jane nudged Maura onto her back.

"You don't have to paint it. Just…do _something_." She lifted her hips so Jane could slide her panties off.

"Oh, I've got my paint out. You're getting a painted pussy tonight." Maura felt the brush swirling around the sensitive inside of her left thigh, then her right, followed by Jane's mouth tenderly eating the chocolate back off.

"Oh Jane. I need you. _Please_." Maura gripped the sheets, digging her heels into the mattress, trying to press herself into Jane's mouth.

"All right, all right. I hate to keep a lady waiting." Maura felt the warm brush paint a circle around her clitoris, then slide directly across her clit. She cried out, thinking she might come before she even felt Jane's tongue.

"This is not working well, because you're already wet down here," Jane muttered. "I'm just gonna pour it."

Maura let out another moan as she felt the warm chocolate pour over her pussy. Then Jane knelt before her, pulled Maura's thighs onto her shoulder, and began eagerly lapping up the chocolate. Maura came almost immediately.

She needed a moment to recover after that, but soon Maura was ready to finish the job with Jane. She turned to her wife and unfastened her slacks, sliding them off along with her panties. "Is there enough paint left for me to do you?"

"Yeah." Jane handed over the jar. "Make me a masterpiece."

Maura smiled at her. "You're already a masterpiece." She nudged Jane's legs apart and dipped the brush into the paint. "What other kind of 'tattoo' would you like?"

"I want Bass the turtle."

"He's a _tortoise_. How do you still not know that?"

Jane laughed. "I know what kind of animal Bass is. I've known for years. I just like to see you get worked up."

Maura rolled her eyes and began painting a tortoise on the inside of Jane's thigh. "You're lucky I put up with you."

"I know."

Maura finished her tortoise and began painting a cheetah on Jane's other thigh.

"That tortoise looks pretty good for being painted on skin with chocolate," said Jane, lifting her leg so she could examine it.

"I'm rather pleased with it myself. Can I take a picture?"

"You are _not_ getting a pussy shot of me. I don't even have _that_ of you."

"I just want a shot of my painting before I lick it off. I hate destroying art, even if it isn't professional."

"Fine, if it'll get you down to business faster. Get your painting, not my pussy."

Maura carefully photographed the tortoise and cheetah before licking them back off. Then she tilted what was left of the chocolate directly onto her wife's genitals and went after it with her tongue, carefully lapping up every last drop until Jane cried out her name in ecstasy. Maura collapsed onto the bed beside her and they both just lay there panting for a minute.

"So did you like your surprise?" Maura asked Jane.

"I did. Although it's a rare surprise I don't like when it's coming from you."

"I enjoyed it as well, but I still feel a bit sticky."

"I feel very, very slobbery."

Their eyes met, and they both broke into a smile. There was really only one thing to do.

"I'll run the water," said Jane, pushing herself up from the bed.

"I'll get the bubbles," said Maura, getting up to follow her.

So they went into the bathroom to begin the next sexy Valentine's Day adventure.


	3. Chapter 3: A Night Out

Chapter Three – A Night Out

 _In which Jane does some embarrassing things_

June 27, 2020

Jane watched Eva playing with the letter magnets on the fridge. The two-year-old was deep in concentration, neatly lining the letters up in order, because she knew what order they went in. Already.

She was such a pretty little thing. Her honey blonde waves just reached her shoulders now. Today her hair was parted neatly on the side, a clip holding it out of her face. Maura always made sure both girls were dressed fashionably with matching accessories, and she always styled their hair to look cute, but Charlotte's look was usually ruined by lunch. Eva, on the other hand, kept hers going all day. She was never dirty or messy. She couldn't stand to have anything out of place, couldn't tolerate the sensation of dirt on her skin. Which was quirky, yes, but diagnosable? Jane hadn't thought so, but apparently she was wrong. Eva had a diagnosis now. Maura had pushed to get her screened, even though Jane had insisted there was nothing wrong with her, so they had taken her to a neuropsychologist who did a series of tests. The screening had revealed two things: Eva's IQ was likely through the roof (they couldn't give them an exact number yet since she wasn't fully cooperative with the testing, but she performed very high on the parts she was willing to do), and she was on the autism spectrum.

 _Autism._ The word frightened Jane, although the doctor assured them it was mild and somewhat balanced out by her high intelligence, that she should be able to function normally with the right therapy. Maura, of course, was already on it, researching all the best therapists in Boston and getting Eva signed up for occupational therapy, social skills training. She had been a little saddened by the diagnosis, saying it was her fault, but then she had sprung into action. She seemed confident that this wasn't going to hold their little genius back, and Jane hoped she was right. She was sworn to protect Eva from all harm, but she hadn't thought that Eva might be born with something that would harm her, that would make her entire life more difficult. Now everything seemed uncertain. Would Eva get into the fancy private school Maura was eyeing? Would she go to college, get a job? Would she make friends and have a family of her own someday if she wanted to?

Jane pulled a letter E off the fridge. "Eva, what letter is this?"

Eva stopped what she was doing and looked at it. "E. Eva. Blue."

Jane looked at the letter. It was blue, although she hadn't asked that. She picked up an M. "What's this?"

"M. Mommy Mama. Red." Her speech was so clear, so advanced for her age. The doctor had commented that most children with autism had speech delays and that she was the opposite, which was one of the reasons they were labelling her as only mildly autistic. Her difficulties were almost entirely social. She didn't take cues from other people. She followed Charlotte around, but otherwise she tended to do her own thing without checking to see what everyone else was doing. She didn't look to see how her parents reacted when something strange happened, didn't try to show others things she found interesting. She was kind of just in her own world a lot of the time.

Jane put the M back and got a C. "What about this one?"

"C. Charlotte. Yellow."

"That's my girl." Jane put the letter back. "Can you spell Eva for me?"

"E-V-A." Eva took the letters and spelled her name, lining them up perfectly. She was so brilliant. That meant she had to be okay, right? Or would her diagnosis hold her back from reaching her potential?

"I can spell _my_ name," announced four-year-old Charlotte, who had just come into the kitchen. "C-H-A-R-L-O-T-T-E." She arranged the letters on the fridge.

"We gave you a much harder name to spell, didn't we?" said Jane. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay, I learned it," said Charlotte. "Can I have a snack?"

"We have berries in the fridge!" said Maura cheerfully as she entered the kitchen. "I can get you some."

Eva watched thoughtfully as Maura took a container of berries out and started putting some in a bowl for Charlotte. "Eva is hungry," she said.

"We don't say it like that," Maura told her gently. "Say, 'I'm hungry.'"

"I'm hungry," Eva repeated.

"Okay, sweetie. I'll get you some," Maura promised.

Jane's heart ached. When Eva started referring to herself in third person, Jane thought it was a cute little quirk the toddler would soon outgrow. Now she understood it was a symptom, that they needed to work with her to make sure she learned regular speech patterns. But what did that mean? Were they helping her or just molding her to fit their idea of normal and crushing the sweet, brilliant little person she really was? How much interference was too much? Jane just wanted her daughter to be healthy and happy, to live up to her potential and be herself. Now she felt like she was walking a tightrope to do that.

As Jane watched the girls snacking on their berries, Maura sidled up next to her and put an arm around her waist. "You look sad," she said gently.

Jane hugged Maura close to her. "Just promise me she'll be okay."

"Of course she'll be okay. She has us."

"Are you sure we're enough?"

Maura smiled up at her. "Is there anything you wouldn't do for her?"

Jane shook her head. "Not a thing."

"Me neither. So I know we're going to do everything we can to make sure she's okay. She'll be better than okay."

"You promise?"

Maura leaned against Jane. "She'll have whatever kind of therapy she needs. I never got any of that, but I did okay. So she'll do even better."

"You think you needed it?"

"It probably would have helped. I was never screened and therefore never diagnosed, but I've known for a long time that I would probably qualify for a diagnosis of Asperger's."

"But there's nothing _wrong_ with you."

"A diagnosis like that doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with you. But I was a bizarre child. I had a really hard time figuring people out. I preferred to be alone because then I didn't have to worry about figuring out how to interact with people, or being made fun of for getting it wrong. But I still managed to get through school, college, med school. I became chief medical examiner. Then I met you, and you did more for me than a therapist could have."

"What did I even do?"

"You translated the world for me. You helped me understand things that had always perplexed me. Remember when we met? I couldn't even tell when people were joking or being sarcastic."

"You still have trouble with that sometimes."

"I also couldn't figure out what was common knowledge and what I should explain to people, what was appropriate to talk about and what I should keep to myself. I had a lot of trouble navigating day-to-day interactions with people."

"You still have some trouble with that too."

"Yes, but not like I did. You helped me understand people better, and you also helped me learn to laugh at myself instead of feeling stupid about what made me different. And my point is, I got through life, with no extra help, having the same problems Eva has. And I got into all the top schools, achieved my dream career, married my dream woman, and now have children of my own. If I can do this well without therapy, imagine what Eva will do with it."

Jane hugged Maura closer. "I hope you're right. It's just a lot to take in."

"I know. Maybe you need a break from thinking about it. I can see if your mom can come over and watch the girls tonight, and I can take you out to do something fun."

"Like what?"

"Well, I've always wanted to go to a lesbian bar. For real, not undercover. We've been in a lesbian relationship for years and yet we've never been to a lesbian bar."

"Well, why would we? Lesbian bars are where you go to pick up chicks. We don't need to pick up chicks. We have chicks. I have one, you have one. We're good."

"They're not just for picking up women. Lesbian bars are places where lesbian couples can go and have a good time without wondering if there's anyone around who will disapprove. I think it would be fun to go someplace like that with you. It's a nice night. I can take you on the Triumph. I'll be designated driver, so you can drink as much as you want."

"It _would_ be nice to get out and have a few beers," Jane admitted. "Fine, if you want to go to a lesbian bar, I'll go. It's hard to say no when a hot chick with a bike asks you out."

Maura grinned, and Jane could almost see her making plans in her mind. Maybe this _was_ what they needed.

XXX

Angela was happy to come watch her grandbabies, so after dinner Jane and Maura fixed themselves up, kissed their girls good night, and hopped on the Triumph. Jane felt her stomach unclench a little for the first time since Eva's screening. It was hard not to enjoy yourself when you were riding in the open air on a summer night with your arms around a sexy lady.

Maura pulled into the parking area behind the bar she'd chosen and cut the engine. They both locked their helmets to the bike (Jane's shiny and black, Maura's sparkly and silver) and went in. It was a small bar with a decent crowd for its size, but not nearly full. There were a few small groups of women at booths off to the side, some tables pushed together in the middle for someone's 40th birthday party, and a couple women sitting at the bar in the back. 80s music was playing over the sound system. A few women looked up as they entered, and Jane reflexively slipped an arm around Maura's waist. No harm in making it clear this one was taken. Maura led Jane to the bar and looked over the drinks menu.

"I'll just have a Blue Moon," Jane told the bartender.

"I'm going to be adventurous and have a Love Potion," said Maura.

Once they'd gotten their drinks, they found an empty booth and sat down. Jane carefully regarded her wife, her mind still reeling from the events of the past few weeks. "So you really think you have autism?" she asked.

Maura shrugged. "I have a number of characteristics. Not others. Without a formal diagnosis, it's hard to be sure, but I think it's probable that I have mild autism." She sipped her drink. "Perhaps I should have told you that a long time ago so you would know what you were getting into."

"Maura, please. I knew what I was getting into. It just never occurred to me that there might be a name for what makes you… _you._ I just thought of it as your Maura-ness."

Maura smiled. "There are a lot of components that make me who I am. This is just one of them." Her smile faded. "I was afraid even before she was born that Eva would have autism. I was afraid to even tell you what I was afraid of."

"Maura, you should never be scared to tell me something like that."

"I was afraid you would think I hadn't been honest."

"About the diagnosis you don't have?"

Maura looked down uncertainly.

"Even if you _did_ have the diagnosis for sure, I would still have wanted to have your baby. And I still think Eva's perfect the way she is. She's the sweetest little thing. Every time she hugs me, my heart just melts. And she's so unbelievably smart. I mean, she's barely two and she can already spell her name. I can't wait to see what she'll do when she's older."

Maura smiled. "So why are you so worried?"

"Maybe I shouldn't be. A kid that smart will make her way, won't she? Even if she struggles with some things, her giant brain will make up for it. Like yours did."

"Her brain, and her supportive family."

Jane grinned. "You're right. She's gonna be great. They both are."

"I know I may be biased, but I think we have the two most amazing kids in the world."

"We totally do. What's in your drink? It's very red."

"7UP, cranberry juice, Bacardi, rum, Peach Schnapps, Strawberry Liqueur, and Apple Sourz. Do you want to try it?"

"Oh, why not?" Jane took a sip. "Mm. It's good."

"I'll get you one." Maura got up and went back to the bar to order another Love Potion. Jane sipped the remainder of her beer thoughtfully, starting to relax a bit more. She was still a little worried about slapping her kid with a label, but the doctor had said she might not even carry the label to school, that with the right therapy her symptoms might be hardly noticeable by then. They weren't that severe even now, and Eva was such a happy child. That was the important thing, wasn't it? Sure, she freaked out when she heard a loud noise or came into contact with a texture she didn't like, but most of the time she was a sweet, happy kid. Jane was lucky to have such good kids, and such an incredible wife. She'd be lost without Maura.

"You look so sad."

Jane looked up to see one of the women from the birthday party standing by the table, holding a cocktail.

"It's a shame," the woman continued. "You're probably the hottest lady in this dump."

Jane blushed furiously. "I'm fine," she said. "Actually, my—"

"People are so obsessed with binaries," the woman said, "but personally, I've always liked the futch persona. I like a girl who can exude feminine beauty and still throw me on the back of her bike." She extended a well-manicured hand. "I'm Lucy."

"I'm Jane, and it's funny you should mention bikes, because I actually came here on the back of my wife's."

"Your wife? And where is she?"

"I'm right here," said Maura fiercely, returning with Jane's drink in her hand.

Lucy looked Maura up and down. "You leave your wife alone in bars often?"

"I was getting her a drink!" Maura put the drink down on the table and pushed it towards Jane, but remained standing.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mess with her," Jane told Lucy in amusement. "I know she looks harmless, but she's actually pretty good with a sword."

"I just hope she treats you right, because you seem like quite the catch," said Lucy before leaving to rejoin the birthday party.

"You hear that, Maura?" said Jane as her wife slid back into the booth. "You need to treat me right, because I've got other offers coming in. And I'm a _catch_."

"I can't believe she tried to pick you up!" huffed Maura. "Couldn't she see you have a wedding ring?"

"Guess she didn't check for that. She called me a 'futch.' What the hell does that mean?"

"Oh, I've heard that before! It's a portmanteau of 'femme' and butch,' which I think fits you well. Although personally I've always thought 'fetch' would be a better portmanteau."

"'Fetch?'"

"Well you _are_ very fetching," said Maura with a seductive smile. "It could also have been 'femtch.' Or 'bumme.' Personally, though, I've always liked the way you defy labels."

"I've never been a big fan of labels. I'm not a scientist like you." Jane sipped at her Love Potion. "This is so good. I should be adventurous more often." She took a bigger sip.

"I'd drink that slowly if I were you," cautioned Maura. "You haven't had much alcohol in the past few years, so your tolerance has likely gone down. Also, you're in your mid-forties now, which means you're processing alcohol slower than you used to."

"Are you calling me old?"

"No, but the amount of water in our bodies does decrease with age, which means you'll have a higher blood alcohol concentration after drinking that then that girl over there will." She motioned to some twenty-something who was enjoying the same drink across the room.

"Look, I know I'm not young anymore and I've been busy reproducing in recent years, but I think I can still hold my liquor."

To prove it, she ordered another Love Potion when she'd finished hers. Maura was still working on her first one.

"You look even more gorgeous now than you did when we got here," Jane remarked, reaching out to touch Maura's face. "Damn, how did I get someone this pretty to marry me? You could have had anyone. I'm so fucking lucky." She laughed. "Fucky! I'm _fucky_! That's another portmanteau!"

"I told you to slow down," said Maura, but she was smiling.

"Come sit over here by me. I want to make out with you in front of all these lesbians," said Jane.

"But you never want to do that in public."

"You said people come to lesbian bars to be themselves. I want to be myself, and the self that I am is madly in love with you, Maura Isles."

Maura got up and moved to Jane's side of the booth. "I'm madly in love with _you_ , Jane Rizzoli," she said softly.

Jane pulled Maura close and kissed her passionately. One hand moved upwards and cupped Maura's breast as she was overcome with lust. She wanted Maura. She wanted to take her right here in this booth.

"Would either of you ladies care for a shot?"

They broke apart and saw a waitress standing next to them with a tray full of shots.

"The birthday girl ordered shots for everybody," she explained.

"Oh, no thank you," said Maura. "I'm driving."

"I'll take one," said Jane. She knocked it back and put the empty glass on the tray.

"Are you sure that won't be too much?" asked Maura in concern.

"I'm fine. I'm just starting to loosen up. You were right that we needed a night out. This place is kind tame, though. Is there anyplace else we could go?"

"There was a bigger gay club I thought of going to, but it's mainly a dance club, and you don't really like to dance."

"You know, I think I might tonight."

Maura lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah. Sure, why not? I'll dance with you."

"Okay! Let me pay the tab, and we can go."

They headed out to the dark parking lot behind the building, where Maura's Triumph waited for them. There was no one else around.

"Hey," Jane said impulsively, grabbing her wife's hips. "Maybe we can pick up where we left off out here."

Maura's eyes sparkled. "We could." Her hands reached for Jane's hair as she stood on tiptoe to kiss her. Suddenly she pushed Jane up against the brick wall.

"Wow," said Jane. "You're not playing around."

"I've always wanted to do this," breathed Maura, unfastening Jane's belt. "I bet _Lucy_ would never have done this for you." She undid Jane's jeans and slipped her fingers inside.

"Maura, you're still thinking about her? She's not a threat to you! No one is a threat you! I know how good I've—oh, _fuuuck_ …"

"You like this?" murmured Maura, pressing Jane's clit. "Do you like doing it outside?"

"Fuck, yeah. Maura, this is why I love you."

"I know." Maura plunged two fingers inside and started fucking like crazy, her body pressed against Jane's.

"Damn, woman…I really hope no one comes into the parking lot right now."

"They could," Maura whispered. "Do you want me to stop?"

"I…no. Please don't stop."

"Are you sure?" Maura said, moving her fingers faster. "Anyone could walk up."

"What's gotten into you? No, don't stop. Don't you _dare_ stop. I… _Maura_!" She clung to Maura's leather jacket as she came, clenching around Maura's fingers. Maura slowly withdrew and fastened Jane back up, then leaned against her, both of them panting.

"I enjoyed that," said Maura.

"Me too," said Jane. "Now I'd better do you." She turned Maura towards the wall and kissed her gently, unbuttoning her blouse just far enough to slip a hand inside and under her bra. Her thumb stroked the soft skin of Maura's breast and Maura moaned softly, her body melting into Jane's.

And then they heard the sound of another motorcycle pulling into the parking lot.

"Fine, I'll get you at the next bar," Jane groaned, taking her hand away and letting Maura button her blouse back up. They made their way to the Triumph, Maura reaching out a hand to steady Jane, who was swaying a little.

"Damn, that's a sweet ride," said the young butch who was driving the newly arrived Honda. "Chloe, look. They've got a Triumph. That's a damn good bike."

"Thank you!" said Maura brightly.

"What year is it?" The Honda driver asked Jane.

"I dunno," said Jane. "My wife got it when she was having a midlife crisis."

"I was _not_ having a midlife crisis!" insisted Maura, climbing onto the bike. "It's a 2008 Bonneville T100. She handles beautifully."

"Oh, I bet she does," gushed the other biker. She looked at Jane, who was getting onto the back. "I'm sorry. I thought it was your bike."

"Happens all the time," said Jane. "But as it turns out, I'm _futch_." She put on her helmet.

"My dream bike is a Harley," the girl continued. "But Triumphs are also nice."

Maura looked stunned. "But a Triumph is so much better than a Harley! They're made better, they handle better, they have more diversity in the product line—"

"Maura, let's just go," Jane groaned, wrapping her arms around her wife's waist. So Maura started her engine and they drove off into the night.

XXX

Jane cracked her eyes open, but it was too bright, so she closed them again.

She tried to remember what had happened, where she was, but she was drawing a blank. The last thing she remembered was leaving the lesbian bar with Maura. Her head hurt so much she didn't dare to lift it, and she was pretty sure she would puke everywhere if she tried to move at all. It was very bright though, and quiet.

 _Quiet_. Where was she? She forced her eyes back open and saw that she was in her own bed. That was good. Maura wasn't there, which was not so good. It was clearly day, but the house was quiet. Where was everyone?

She forced herself to turn her head and look for her phone. It was there on the nightstand, so she picked it up and looked at the time. 10:09 a.m. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept this late. There was no way the girls were still sleeping. She unlocked her phone and was startled by her new wallpaper. Where there had previously been an innocent picture of Maura posing with both girls on her lap was now what appeared to be an unfocused selfie Jane had taken of her grinning face next to Maura's exposed breasts. Jane was giving a thumbs up, but Maura's face wasn't in the picture, so it was hard to tell how she felt about it. She definitely needed to change it back and probably delete the picture, but her head was hurting too much to deal with that now. Instead she opened up her text conversation with Maura, where she found a bunch of sent messages saying things like:

 _Youuu aresp hot_

 _I lovee hyuou_

 _Heeeyy foojudy l;asdy_

She wasn't even sure what the last one was supposed to say, or why she had been texting Maura at all when they were together. She started to type a new message, but then a Facebook notification popped up:

 ** _Kaylee Evans_** _tagged you in a photo. To add this to your timeline, go to_ _ **Timeline Review**_ _._

Jane opened the post, wondering who the hell Kaylee Evans was. It turned out to be a picture of Jane and Maura in what looked like a dance club (she vaguely remembered agreeing to go to one). Jane had her arm around Maura, her fingers lightly touching Maura's breast. She was pointing to Maura's rack with her other hand, and she had a big grin that seemed to say, "I get to touch these. Did I hit the jackpot or what?" Maura was smiling too, but was not making any lewd gestures. The caption read:

 _Met this adorable couple at the club. I want to be just like them when I grow up!_

Jane decided not to approve the tag. As she was dismissing it, she heard footsteps on the stairs and put the phone back down. Her lovely wife came into the room, looking perfectly put-together, a tray in her hands.

"Oh good, you're awake!" she said. "I was just coming to wake you up. You need to eat." She set the tray down on the bed next to Jane.

"Oh Maura, you're an angel, but I don't think I can eat anything," Jane croaked

"It's the only way you're going to feel better. At least have some water." She held out a glass of ice water and Jane forced herself to sit up just enough to drink it. She surveyed the food: eggs, toast, and a banana.

"You might want to start with the toast," said Maura. "It'll help settle your stomach and give you a blood sugar boost. I also made eggs to replenish your B vitamins, and the banana is to boost your potassium. I also brought you some Tylenol."

"You really _are_ an angel," said Jane, taking the pills from her wife. "Where are the girls?"

"Downstairs with your mother. She stayed the night since we were out so late, and she knew when I brought you home that you weren't going to be doing much in the morning."

"That bad, huh? I'm almost afraid to ask, but what…happened?"

Maura sat down on the edge of the bed. "Well, how much do you remember?"

"I remember going to a small lesbian bar with you, and then we left because you wanted to go dancing. I remember you fucking me against the wall. Everything after that is a bit fuzzy."

"Well, we _did_ go dancing," said Maura helpfully. "We just went to one other bar, but you were already drunk when we got there, and then you drank some more."

"Why did you let me drink so much?"

"I advised you not to, but you didn't listen to me."

"You should have handcuffed me."

Maura frowned. "I don't have handcuffs."

"I know." Jane took a small bite of toast and then picked up her phone. "Okay, I have some questions. First of all, why was I texting you? Did we get separated?"

"No, you were sitting right next to me. Once you became drunk, I didn't let you out of my sight."

"So I just felt like drunk texting you even though you were beside me."

"Yes."

"Well, that explains why you didn't respond. So who is…Kaylee Evans?"

"She's a girl we met at the club. She was there with her friends and they thought we were really cute because we were out having fun at our age. The clientele at the club was a much younger demographic than at the lesbian bar."

"She tagged me in a somewhat lewd picture." She showed the picture to Maura.

"Ah yes. The drunker you got, the more you talked about my breasts. You told everyone I have the 'rack of God' and you are the 'Chosen One' who gets to enjoy it. I thought it was sweet."

"Oh yeah, I'm just the queen of romance." She closed Facebook and showed Maura her wallpaper. "Please tell me no one was around when this happened."

Maura giggled. "I tried to stop you from setting that as your wallpaper, but you were determined, so I decided we could change it later. You didn't show it to anyone else. And we were alone in the bathroom when you took it."

"And why did you have your boobs out in the bathroom?"

"You took me back there to give me an orgasm. You were trying to do it in this dark corner in the upstairs part of the club, but then someone interrupted us, so you took me into the bathroom."

Jane closed her eyes and saw a few flashes of memory. She remembered being inside a stall with Maura and closing the door. She remembered bending down to suck Maura's nipple while she was inside of her, remembered Maura coming with her hands buried in Jane's hair. "Oh, Maura, I'm so sorry. A woman like you should not be fucked next to a toilet."

"No, I enjoyed it! It was kind of exciting, knowing someone could walk in and hear us. Anyway, afterwards you said my breasts were so amazing, you were going to take a selfie with them to prove you met them. I asked who you were proving it to and you said 'myself.' I didn't think it made a lot of sense, but you were saying a lot of things that didn't make sense at that point."

"But you were okay with me taking the selfie."

"Yes, although I did take your phone away not too long after that."

Jane felt a little better after eating the toast, so she decided to try the banana. "Well, I hope I didn't embarrass you too much."

"Oh, no. I had a lovely time! It was nice to see you just loosen up and have fun, especially after you'd been so worried about Eva. You even did karaoke."

Jane almost choked on her banana. "I did _not_."

"You did! You volunteered to do it. I was really surprised!"

"Maura, I would jump off a building before I would sing in front of people. I sing with you in the car, and I sing with the girls. I _don't_ sing in bars."

"But you did! You did a song by this band…something about directions?"

"Not One Direction?"

"Yes! I didn't know you liked that band."

"I don't! They're a silly boy band. Nobody over the age of sixteen likes them."

"But you picked a song by them, and you dragged me onto the stage with you so you could sing it to me. It was about a girl who doesn't know she's beautiful. You sang the whole thing directly to me, but what surprised me most was that you knew all of the words."

Jane groaned and put a hand over her eyes. "You're imagining that."

"No, I'm not. You didn't look at the screen once the entire time, but you sang all the words."

"I was probably just making words up."

"No, they didn't sound like the kind of words you'd make up. Anyway, I made a video of part of it."

Jane uncovered her eyes, which were now very wide. "You didn't."

"I did! I thought it was really sweet of you to sing to me in front of all those people."

"Maura, you have to delete that video."

"No, I liked it! You also did a Katy Perry song with Kaylee and her friends, but I didn't get a video of that because my battery died."

"I don't even want to know what the Katy Perry song was."

"I think it was called 'Teenage Dream.'"

"What part of 'I don't want to know what the Katy Perry song was' did you not understand? Look, just give me your phone so I can deal with that video."

" _No_! You'll delete it!"

"I'm in the video! I have the right to delete it!"

"I promise not to show it to anyone!"

"No. As long as it's on your phone, there will always be the possibility of someone else seeing it. What if Charlotte finds it? That's even worse than Ma finding it. Charlotte will tell everyone she meets for the rest of her life about the video of Mama singing."

"I hardly think she'll tell people for the rest of her life. Look, I'll show it to you, but I'm not deleting it."

She opened the video on her phone. Jane was afraid to look, but she did anyway. There she was, drunk and happy, holding the karaoke microphone, her back to the screen that displayed the lyrics. She was looking at Maura, singing with wild abandon, "Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you-oo. Baby you light up my world like nobody else—"

Jane couldn't stand to see any more. She made a dive for the phone, but Maura was faster.

"I'm not letting you delete it!' said Maura, getting up from the bed. "I want to remember the moment! It'll probably never happen again!"

"You're damn right it'll never happen again!" Jane pushed herself out of bed, swayed a little, and then went after her wife. "If you don't delete that, I'm keeping your booby pic as my wallpaper!"

"You would never let anyone else see my breasts."

"Fine, you got me there. But I'll find something!" She made a sudden grab for the phone, but Maura wouldn't let go, and Jane was weak from her night of drinking. She lost her balance during the tug of war and went down, pulling Maura down with her. They continued to wrestle for the phone until Jane finally pried it from her wife's fingers. She looked at the screen to see two horrifying words:

 _MESSAGE SENT_

" _What_. Did you do."

"I didn't do anything!" insisted Maura, her eyes wide.

"It says 'message sent!' Who did you send it to?"

"I didn't send it to anyone! But we could have pushed anything while we were fighting over the phone."

Just then, Jane's question was answered:

 _New message from Frankie: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_

"We sent it to _Frankie_? Maura, you don't know what you've done."

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't tried to take the phone from me. I'll text Frankie and tell him not to show anyone."

"It's bad enough that _he_ saw it!"

"Girls, what's going on up there?" Angela hollered up the stairs.

"Nothing!" Jane yelled back.

"Mama, are you okay?" Charlotte yelled.

"I'm okay, baby!"

"Can we come see you now?"

Jane pulled herself back onto the bed. "Sure, you can come up!"

"He says he'll keep it a secret, but it'll cost you!" Maura said, looking panicked. "Jane, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to send it to him!"

"I know you didn't," said Jane wearily. "Ask him what it'll cost me." She decided she'd better eat her eggs before they got cold. "Why does my jaw hurt?"

"Oh, a woman hit on me in the club. You shoved her and she punched you. That was when we got kicked out."

"We got kicked out?"

"Yes! It was my first time getting kicked out of a bar."

" _No!_ But you always get so rowdy!"

"It felt like an important rite of passage. I sort of enjoyed it."

"You little rebel."

"I was furious with her for punching you, however, and I told her so." Maura sounded quite indignant, and Jane hid a smile at the thought of her scolding the offending woman.

Just then, Angela and the girls came into the room. "Mama! Are you feeling any better?" asked Charlotte, carrying her toy doctor kit.

"Yeah, I'm all right. How's my girl?"

"I'm fine." Charlotte climbed up and started listening to Jane's heart with her toy stethoscope as Angela lifted Eva onto the bed.

"Mama!" said Eva happily, throwing her little arms around Jane's neck and kissing her cheek. Jane hugged her close, wondering how she could have been so worried about this flawless child.

"My sweet girls. I love you both so much," said Jane, planting kisses on each of their heads.

"What are you sick with, Mama?" Charlotte asked loudly. Jane cringed involuntarily.

"Quiet, sweetie," said Maura. "Mama drank too much alcohol last night. Can you explain why her head hurts now?"

Charlotte thought for a moment. "Because alcohol is a diuretic and the body takes water from the brain so it won't get de...de…"

"Dehydrated," said Maura. "Very good! And what does Mama need to do now?"

"Drink lots of water!"

"Maybe we should have had _her_ IQ tested," mumbled Jane. "Although I'm not sure she needs to know _why_ I'm not feeling well."

"I tell everyone my granddaughters are both geniuses!" said Angela happily. "Anyway, if you're all fine here, I'm going to get back home. I'll see you girls tonight at dinner!"

"Oh no, tonight's Sunday dinner," groaned Jane after her mother left.

"You'll be better by then," promised Maura, looking down at her phone. "Frankie just said, 'to be determined.'"

"Great," muttered Jane.

XXX

Jane was feeling much better by the time everyone arrived for dinner that night, and she'd almost forgotten about the embarrassing video. Maura had agreed to transfer it to a secret folder on her computer and delete it from her phone, so at least it wouldn't be accidentally sent to any more people. The only problem was that Maura kept humming the song all day.

The family had a normal conversation at dinner until someone asked Frankie and Nina about the old house they had purchased and were now fixing up.

"The house is coming along nicely," said Frankie. "And Jane has volunteered to repaint the kitchen for us."

"Did you?" said Nina. "That's really nice of you, Jane."

"I don't remember volunteering to do that," said Jane.

"Really?" said Frankie. "Well, you can't back out now. That would be going the _wrong direction_."

Jane heaved a sigh. "Fine. I do want you to _get rid of_ that ugly paint in the kitchen."

"Come on, Jane. We're not getting _rid_ of anything. We're just covering it up for now."

"Well that's an odd way of putting it," said Maura.

"Frankie," said Jane, "there has to be _something_ I can help you get rid of."

"Well, we did want to get rid of the paint covering the woodwork throughout the house, if you're up for that."

"I am not up for that. That would take forever. I have a family of my own; I'm not spending all my weekends at your place playing _This Old House_."

"Okay, but that just means I'm going to be stuck with it for a while."

"So maybe I don't care if you're stuck with it, as long as you don't show it to anyone else."

"Okay, what is this really about?" said Nina. "Are you talking about paint or about that silly video?"

Jane's jaw dropped. "You showed it to Nina? Fine then, the deal's off. You can paint your own kitchen."

"Showing it to my wife doesn't count!"

Nina turned on Frankie. "You were using that video to _blackmail_ your _sister_?"

"What video are you guys talking about?" asked Angela.

"Can we talk about something else?" said Jane, the heat rising in her face. "Charlotte, say 'diuretic.'"

"Diuretic," said Charlotte cheerfully.

"Why does she know that word?" asked Tommy.

"Maura taught it to her," said Jane. "She knows what it means, too. Charlotte, what does a diuretic do?"

"Makes you pee," said Charlotte.

"I still want to know what this video is!" demanded Angela.

"Fine," said Jane, putting down her fork. "I'll tell you all what happened, but you're _not_ watching the video. So I went out with Maura last night, had too much to drink, and decided to do karaoke. The song I picked was One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful.' I know all the words because when it first came out, it played on the radio every time I was in the car, and for a long time I didn't even know who sang it. I just knew it made me think of Maura, because I was in love with her but she didn't know it yet, so I would sing along while I was alone in my car. When I found out I was singing a One Direction song, I was kind of embarrassed, but there you have it. So I guess I finally decided to actually sing it to Maura, because you know what? She _is_ beautiful, and I want her to know it."

"Oh, Jane," said Maura, putting a hand to her heart. "You thought of me when you heard that song all those years ago?"

"Jane, that _is_ really sweet," said Nina. She turned back to Frankie. "But all you could think about was how to use it against her? Give me your phone." She grabbed Frankie's phone, found the video, and deleted it. "There, Jane. I won't let him make fun of you for loving your wife. I'm glad you two got out and had some fun."

"How did Frankie even get the video?" frowned Tommy.

"I sent it to him by mistake," said Maura. "I told him it was a mistake and that Jane didn't want anyone to see it, but he said he'd only keep it secret if she paid the price."

"Frankie Rizzoli, blackmail? I would not have expected that from you!" scolded Angela. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"I was just having some fun with her!" Frankie insisted.

"I was pretty stressed out about it," admitted Maura. "I knew it was my fault, and I didn't want Jane to have to do something she didn't want to do."

"I think you can paint the kitchen all by yourself," Nina told him. "Really, Frankie. That was childish."

"Maybe you can do the dishes tonight too," suggested Jane, feeling pleased with herself for successfully turning the whole thing onto her brother.

"Fine," snapped Frankie. He got up, gathered as many dishes as he could carry, and headed to the kitchen.

Jane grabbed his wrist as he passed by and said in a low voice, "You see what happens when you go up against your big sister? You will never win."

Then she turned back to her beautiful wife and beautiful daughters, feeling the last bit of stress leave her.

 **Thanks to Claire for offering a few suggestions on this one!**


	4. Chapter 4: Jane and Maura's Anniversary

**Author's note: Sorry it's taken so long to get another chapter up! I can't guarantee the next one will be here any sooner, as I'm very busy with non-fanfic writing at the moment, but I WILL keep updating periodically, and I have some other ideas for fanfics I'd like to start writing in the next few months. So if you haven't yet, 1. Register for an account, 2. Follow this story, and 3. Follow me! And to make up for taking so long, this chapter is really long and absolutely full of smut! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4 – Jane and Maura's 7th Wedding Anniversary

 _In which our ladies go on a weekend getaway for the first time without kids_

May 14, 2021

"Okay, I just need to put in my laptop and I'll be finished packing," Maura said, surveying her bags. "I already packed your clothes and a swimsuit. I wanted to make sure you had the appropriate attire for where we're going."

"You don't trust me, do you?" said Jane.

"I completely trust you," Maura assured her. "Just not in situations like this."

Jane went into the bathroom to gather her toothbrush and some other toiletries. "So we've got clothes and swimwear. What about pajamas?"

Maura grinned. "I don't think we'll need pajamas."

"Oh yeah, because the whole point of going to Middle of Nowhere, Rhode Island by ourselves for the weekend is to have a lot of sex. I'm surprised you even packed clothes. We might as well have gone to a nudist resort."

Maura looked up from zipping her suitcase. "Is that something you would be interested in?"

"Maura, no! As much as I'd love to catch up with Susie's old friends, no."

"What if it was an all-female nudist resort?"

"Still no. I'm not getting naked with a bunch of strangers."

"Okay. Just checking."

Jane stuffed a few final things in her suitcase and zipped it up. "Do you think the kids will be okay?"

"I think they're in very good hands with your mother. But we'll only be two hours away, so if they're not okay, we can come right back."

"I'm sure Charlotte will be fine because she's Little Miss Independent anyway, but Eva's so used to her routine."

"That's why it's good for us to deviate from the routine sometimes, so she can learn how to cope with changes."

"Do you think she'll cry when we leave? I can't deal with it if she does. It's like you crying, only in miniature. I end up just giving her whatever she wants."

Maura smiled. "Which she's going to figure out sooner or later, if she hasn't already." She gave Jane a kiss. "It will be hard to leave them, but I'm looking forward to having you all to myself for a little while."

"Mmm." Jane slipped her arms around Maura's waist. "That _will_ be amazing."

"I made a picture for your an-na-vers-ary!"

Maura looked around to see five-year-old Charlotte coming into the room, proudly sporting a crayon drawing. Eva was behind her, holding a paper of her own.

"Let me see," said Maura, kneeling and reaching for Charlotte's drawing.

"It's your wedding," Charlotte told her.

The picture showed Jane and Maura in white dresses with big smiles on their faces. Behind them were a bunch of red dots. Next to them were what appeared to be shorter versions of themselves.

"That's me and Eva," Charlotte explained.

"You girls weren't at our wedding," Jane laughed.

"Why not? We're your daughters."

"Neither of you were born yet," explained Maura. "What are all these red dots in the background?"

"Fans."

"Fans?"

"Sox fans. Because you got married at a Red Sox game."

"Well, we did get married in the stadium, but not during a game," Maura told her.

"Is that what you think, that they stopped a game in the middle so we could get married while everyone cheered us on?" asked Jane with an amused smile.

"Uh huh," said Charlotte.

"That would have been _awesome_ ," said Jane.

"Thank you for drawing the picture. I love it," Maura told her. "What did you make, Eva?"

"My name." Eva held up her paper. All over it she had written _EVA EVA EVA_ , in the same three colors she always used: blue for the _E_ , green for the _V_ , and red for the _A_.

"Eva, you're getting so good at writing your name!" Maura exclaimed. "Look at this, Jane. I think it's reaching a point where even someone who didn't already know what she's writing would be able to make it out."

"Very impressive for someone who's not quite three," Jane agreed. "But why do you always use those colors, Eva? Why does E have to be blue?"

Eva looked up at her like she wasn't sure exactly what there was not to understand. "E is blue," she told her matter-of-factly.

"But letters can be any color you want them to be," Charlotte told her. "Come on, I'll show you." She led Eva across the hall to her room, where crayons were still scattered across the play table.

"Well, we're all packed," said Maura, looking over her list. "I think the girls have everything they need here. I went grocery shopping yesterday, so they should have plenty to eat."

"Yeah, I saw. You got enough to feed them for the next two weeks. And we're coming back the day after tomorrow."

"I'm leaving a credit card and some cash for your mom, just in case."

"Maura, the last thing you want to do is turn that woman loose with one of your credit cards."

"She knows it's just for emergencies. I told her—"

She was cut off by the sound of their normally mild-mannered younger daughter yelling at the top of her lungs. "No, no, _no!_ You _can't!_ "

Jane and Maura ran across the hall to Charlotte's room. " _What_ is going on in here?" Jane demanded.

"I was showing Eva she could write her name other colors if she wanted," said Charlotte defensively. "All I did was write a pink E and she started yelling!"

Eva began to cry. "E is blue!" she insisted tearfully.

"But it doesn't have to be!" Charlotte told her. "Look, I can make an orange E." And to Eva's horror, she did.

" _Noooo!_ " Eva wailed. "E is blue! E is _blue!_ "

"Charlotte, for crying out loud, can you just make a blue E?" said Jane, scooping up the distraught toddler. "Eva, it's okay, baby. You can make your E whatever color you want." She wiped Eva's tears away and kissed her cheek.

"It's blue," Eva insisted, but her voice was quieter now. She knew her Mama would make things right.

"Fine," Charlotte said with an exasperated sigh. She scribbled out the offending letters and wrote a big _E_ with the blue crayon. "Is that better?"

"Yes," said Eva. "V is green."

So Charlotte made a green _V_ , followed by a red _A_. By the time she was finished, Eva had stopped crying.

"It's because of the refrigerator magnets," Maura explained. "That's how she learned her letters. They made them in rainbow colors, repeating. A is red, B is orange, C is yellow, D is green, E is blue, F is purple. Then it starts over. V is the fourth green letter."

Jane gave her a stunned look. "I honestly never paid that much attention to the colors. I mean, she always used to say them, but I thought it was just because she was learning her colors too. I didn't realize she was making an association."

"A lot of people don't pay attention to colors in situations where they seem irrelevant. Eva must have assumed they _were_ relevant."

"I'm glad I have you to translate her for me," said Jane, kissing Eva's head. "Do you think she's always going to need to write her name in those colors? That might cause problems in school."

"She writes it with a pencil sometimes. It's just when she uses crayons, she thinks it has to be those colors or it's wrong."

"You are something else," Jane told their daughter, wiping away the last of her tears.

XXX

An hour later, the two women were on the road in Maura's Mercedes, which Maura had reluctantly allowed Jane to drive. It was a reasonable compromise. Jane hated nothing more than just sitting still in a car for a few hours, while Maura didn't really mind. She liked looking at the scenery.

"I have our itinerary all planned out," Maura said pleasantly. "We'll have an hour or so to get checked in and settled into our suite. At six we have a dinner reservation at the hotel's five-star restaurant. Then I thought we could sit out on the beach for a bit, until it gets dark, and then we'll go back to our room. In the morning, we need to be up early because we have tai chi at eight, and I have the couples suite at the spa booked at nine. We'll be there for a three-hour treatment."

"Damn, what are they doing to us?"

"Well, first we're doing an aromatherapy soak in the whirlpool tub, then they're giving us a sugar scrub, followed by a 90-minute massage. After that, I thought perhaps we'd order room service for lunch, and then we'll have some free time before afternoon tea at three—"

"Wait, they have afternoon tea at this place? Like, a _Downton Abbey_ kind of thing?"

"Yes. It's complimentary for guests, but by four we need to be downstairs at the Wine and Culinary Institute. I signed us up for a class on pairing Italian wines."

Jane sighed. "I guess I _did_ tell you to plan the trip."

"You get to taste all the wines, and the dishes that go with them."

"Okay, I guess I can get into that."

"After the class, we'll go to dinner, and then we have the evening free. Sunday morning, we have breakfast at eight, yoga at 9:30, and then perhaps we could enjoy an hour or so on the beach before checkout. Then we'll have lunch at one of the hotel restaurants before we leave. Also, there's a boutique right in the hotel that I'd like a chance to shop at. Maybe we can work that in tomorrow evening after dinner."

"Maura, why do you have to schedule every minute of our vacation? The whole point is to get away from it all, not have any responsibilities for a while."

"I just like to have a plan. Don't worry, there are plenty of opportunities in there for us to have sex. I wanted to leave room for some spontaneity in there."

"I'm surprised you didn't schedule that too. You do at home sometimes."

"We both work and we have two small children. If we don't schedule sex, it might not happen. But since we don't have the kids with us this weekend, we can afford to be more flexible. I wouldn't mind it if you _surprised_ me sometime."

"What do you mean, surprise you?"

"Whenever we do something adventurous, sexually, it's always my idea. I'd enjoy it if you just… _took_ me. When I wasn't expecting it."

"Like, just pounce on you out of nowhere?"

"Yes. Make me feel irresistible."

"Well, you _are_ irresistible, but I don't want to, you know, come at you out of nowhere. I'm afraid I'll scare you."

"You won't scare me. Especially not now, on our anniversary getaway." She looked at Jane wistfully. "I do it to you."

"Yes, that's true. But you're incapable of being scary."

"And you're the person I trust most in this world. Anyway, I'm not asking you to jump out at me from a dark alley. I just want you to do something…unexpected."

"Okay. I can work on that."

"Did you know that the most common time for married couples to separate is after seven years of marriage?"

"…okay. And we're celebrating seven years of marriage. Is this your subtle way of telling me you're leaving soon?"

Maura giggled. "On the contrary, I'm telling you that it bodes quite well for our future that we're still so happy after seven years."

"Of course we are. Look at us. We're just two sexy women, having a good time together. And I love you so much, I'm willing to spend the weekend at a fancy five-star resort where I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb, just for you."

"It's not just for me. We're _both_ going to have fun. And you won't stick out like a sore thumb. I won't let you."

But when the sprawling, clapboard seaside hotel came into view, Jane gave a low whistle. "I don't think I belong here," she said as they drove past a couple strolling around in resort wear.

"Of course you do. You belong with _me_."

"You're way out of my league, sweetie."

"Apparently not, since I married you."

"No, you are. You're just too innocent to realize it, and I decided not to give a shit."

Once they had checked in, they went up to their room. It was a beautiful, light-filled suite with large bay windows and a fireplace in the living room, and a roomy private verandah off of the bedroom. The bathroom had a tub large enough for two people. All in all, it was the perfect place for a couple to retreat to. Maura unpacked their things (Jane might not have a problem living out of a suitcase for the weekend, but Maura did) and then they went out to explore the hotel and its grounds for a bit before coming back to get ready for dinner.

"When I made the reservation, I asked for the most private table they could give us," Maura told Jane as they walked down to the restaurant. "I told them we were celebrating our anniversary."

"So we got all dressed up just to hide from people?" asked Jane.

"We're not _hiding_ exactly. Anyway, you're not just dressed up for them. You're dressed up for me."

The host showed them to their table, which was even more private than Maura had expected. It had a curved booth that was about three-quarters surrounded by a wall, so when they sat down and scooted around to the back, they weren't visible to most of the restaurant patrons. Maura bumped her shoulder against Jane's and smiled at her.

"Well, you weren't kidding," Jane said. "This is certainly private. And it's one of those white tablecloth places. You know, I've never been to one of these without you."

"And I've never been to a bar and grill without you," Maura grinned.

Maura ordered a bottle of French wine to go with their three-course meal, since they _were_ celebrating. Jane griped a little about the unpronounceable dishes and the exorbitant cost, but not as much as she normally would have.

"Seven years," Maura sighed happily during dessert, turning to give Jane a kiss. "Well, technically six years, eleven months, and 27 days. But on Monday it'll be seven years."

"Mmm." Jane looked at her thoughtfully, slipping an arm around her waist. "And you're just as beautiful now as you were on our wedding day." She put a hand on Maura's knee and then, unexpectedly, slid it up Maura's thigh, under her skirt. Maura drew in her breath. This was it. Jane was doing something spontaneous. Jane pulled herself closer and tenderly kissed Maura's cheek. Maura closed her eyes for a minute to savor the sensations: Jane's right arm around her, her dominant left hand caressing the sensitive skin of Maura's inner thigh, her soft lips against Maura's cheek.

"Oh Jane," she murmured softly.

Jane's hand moved up a little, teasing Maura through her panties. Maura continued eating her crème fraîche mousse, not wanting any passersby to suspect what was going on under the table. Jane pulled back a little and made eye contact with Maura as her fingers reached tentatively for the waistband of Maura's panties. In response, Maura lifted her hips just enough for Jane to slide them down. After checking to make sure no one was looking, Jane went down on her knees, the floor-length tablecloth now obscuring her from the view of everyone but Maura. Maura moved her legs apart and Jane put her head up Maura's skirt, taking her into her mouth. Maura let out a soft sigh – she didn't dare make any other sound – and pushed herself further into Jane's mouth, her heart racing at the thought of what they were doing. They were in a formal restaurant! There were people around! They would definitely get kicked out if they were caught, and on the first evening of their vacation! But Maura didn't want Jane to stop. Not at all.

She was getting close to climax when the waiter came back with the check. She put a warning hand on Jane's head, and Jane stopped what she was doing.

"How is everything?" he asked her pleasantly.

"Oh, it's lovely!" said Maura hastily. "The mousse is delicious."

"Where is your wife?" he inquired with concern, looking at Jane's half-eaten banana cream soufflé.

"Oh, she's…she'll be back to finish her dessert soon."

"If you need anything else, just let me know."

"I will," Maura promised. "He's gone," she whispered to Jane when he had walked away.

"Good," Jane whispered back before resuming her endeavor.

Maura closed her eyes, then opened them again. She had to try to look normal, although she knew she was getting quite flushed. She put one hand on the back of Jane's head, pulling her in a little closer, until she shuddered with orgasm, gasping but otherwise refusing to make a sound. Jane, of course, was familiar enough to know when Maura was climaxing even without a soundtrack, so she carefully withdrew and whispered, "Tell me when it's safe to come back up."

Maura looked around. There was a couple being shown to a table, and then a server going by with food, but then the coast was clear. "It's safe," she whispered back, gulping some more wine so people would think that was why she was flushed.

"Okay." Jane climbed back into her seat, putting her arm back around Maura. "Did that surprise you?"

"It did," Maura admitted. "Very much."

"But you liked it?"

She kissed Jane's cheek. "Couldn't you tell?"

"Just making sure." Jane took a swig of her own wine. "My soufflé is good, but you're still my favorite dessert."

After they left the restaurant, they got changed into more casual clothes and went out to sit on the hotel's private beach for a bit. It wasn't crowded, since peak season hadn't arrived yet, but they were a few people lounging in beach chairs or walking around, as well as a few kids playing in the sand. Jane and Maura found some free chaise lounges and settled in next to each other. Maura pulled her laptop from her bag and got set up to Skype with the kids before they went to bed. It tugged at her heart a bit to see them on the screen, in their pajamas like any other night, but without their mommies to tuck them in. They seemed happy though; their grandma had put them to bed on other occasions when Jane and Maura went out for the evening, so it wasn't too unusual for them. The test would be to see how they reacted when they woke up in the morning and their mommies still weren't there.

"This would be a nice place to bring the kids sometime," said Jane when they had ended the call, slipping on her sunglasses and lying back in her lounger. "They could play in the sand all day while we just soak up the sun."

"Yes, I was thinking it would be nice to come back here in the summer and rent a cabin or one of the two-bedroom suites," said Maura dreamily, opening the book she was writing on her laptop. "There's more to do in the summer, but it will be a lot more crowded."

"Just think, seven years ago today you were having a complete nervous breakdown over all the last-minute things you had to get done before our wedding."

Maura laughed. "Well, fortunately, we got it all done."

"I was never worried, but I never needed as much as you did. I just needed my beautiful bride, and the certificate that said you were all mine."

Maura smiled, remembering her anticipation in the days before their wedding. She had been afraid it wouldn't all come together, but it had, and it had been worth all the trouble. She turned her attention to the computer and wrote for a while, feeling pleased to have time to get so much done (and in such a relaxing environment, too), until the sun began to set and she heard Jane snoring. She looked around the beach and saw a couple around their age standing by the water. The man was taking pictures, but the woman was looking Maura's way. Maura pushed her sunglasses back and looked behind her to see if there was anything interesting back there, but nothing stood out. She turned back to see the woman coming towards her, an excited smile on her face.

"Are you Maura Isles-Rizzoli?"

"I am," Maura admitted.

"I just finished reading one of your books! Your picture was on the back cover! Oh, I love your heroine, Detective Simone de-whatever-it-was."

"Simone de Sauveterre," said Maura pleasantly.

"Yes, her! I love her intelligence and her intensity. She sounds beautiful too. And it was so bold of you to make her gay! I told my husband I'd flip for her!"

Jane, roused by the conversation, sat up, took her sunglasses off, and rubbed her eyes. The woman's jaw dropped.

"That's exactly how I pictured Simone!"

Maura smiled. "Simone was inspired by my wife, Jane."

"Wow, I didn't know she was real!"

Maura wasn't sure she liked the way this woman was eyeing her wife. "Well, anyway, we need to get back to our room before it gets dark. I'm glad you enjoyed the book!"

"Perhaps you could sign it for me if I run into you tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course!" Maura urged Jane up from her lounger, gathered her things, and slipped her arm possessively through Jane's as they made their way back to the building.

"Look at you, getting recognized," Jane told her. "My famous wife."

"I think she liked _you_ better than me," said Maura.

"She doesn't like me. She likes the character you wrote."

"Who is based on _you_." Maura got out her key card and unlocked their room. "She said she'd flip for you."

"For your character."

Maura closed the door behind them. "Well, I know I would." She pushed Jane against the wall and kissed her soundly, her hands moving up and down her wife's body.

"I need to put you in situations that make you jealous more often," said Jane when Maura finally came up for air.

"I know nobody's going to steal you away from me," said Maura. "But when people look, it reminds me again of exactly what I have." She trailed her fingers down Jane's cheek. "And I never want you to even _think_ about them."

"How could I, when this is who I have by my side?" Jane kissed her. "So, our kitchenette has alcohol in it. You want me to open a bottle of something?"

"Sure. I'm just going to take a quick shower. Unless you wanted a bath?"

"That's tempting, but it's so warm out, I think we should drink on our 'private terrace.' I'll wait for you out there, okay?"

"Okay." Maura showered as quickly as she could, eagerly anticipating the night ahead of them. She hadn't had Jane all to herself for an entire night in over five years – not since before Charlotte was born. Of course they found snatches of alone time here and there, and valued those moments all the more for how hard they were to come by, but this reminded her of the early days of their marriage, and the time before that. Sometimes they would schedule little weekends away, when they would just drive off to the Berkshires or Cape Cod and spend a few days making love in some hotel bed, shutting out everything besides each other. It was exciting to finally have the chance to do that again.

She got out of the shower and toweled herself off before slipping into one of the hotel bathrobes and walking out into the bedroom. It was quiet and dark, with no sign of Jane, but when her eyes adjusted Maura noticed two things. The first was that the blankets had been removed from the bed. The second was that the door to their verandah was open. She could smell salt in the air, could hear the gentle crash of waves outside. She walked out onto the verandah.

"There she is! My Aphrodite! My goddess of love!" Jane's voice came from the floor, and Maura quickly saw where the blankets had gone: Jane had laid the comforter on the floor and was stretched out, naked, covered only by a sheet. Maura grinned and got down on the comforter with her, shedding the bathrobe.

"You said I should surprise you more. Is this a good surprise? Enjoying sexy time al fresco?"

"A very good surprise." Maura slid under the sheet and on top of Jane, fusing their bodies together. She loved this sensation: the two of them, skin to skin, her heat thrusting against Jane's, Jane responding in kind. She found herself moving in time with the waves crashing on the shore. She thought about how Jane had given her an orgasm in the restaurant and, deciding it was time to return the favor, moved down Jane's lithe body until her fingers found Jane's wet center. She stroked, she caressed, and finally, she entered.

"Maura," Jane moaned, closing her eyes. Maura pushed the sheet out of her way and moved to Jane's side, still slipping her fingers in and out, and slid her left hand under Jane's back, lifting her up a little to cradle her. She held her close, lovingly working her with her fingers, until Jane's back arched with orgasm. Pleased with a job well done, Maura put her fingers in her mouth and sucked Jane's juices. She listened to the sounds of the ocean and Jane's breath, feeling the breeze on her bare skin. As she looked down at her beautiful wife, with her dark hair and dark eyes and long, lithe body, she wondered how she could have wasted her youth dreaming of a future _husband_ when it was a _wife_ she needed. It was Jane she needed, always Jane. She started kissing her way down her wife's body, feeling smooth olive skin beneath her lips. When she reached Jane's hip, she pulled back just a little and asked, "Are you ready for more?"

"With you, always," Jane replied. Maura curled onto her side, the opposite way from Jane, thrusting her own throbbing heat into Jane's face as she took Jane's into her mouth. Jane quickly followed suit, and they rocked there together, yin and yang, until they came together. Panting, Maura turned her body again so that she and Jane could lie in each other's arms, feeling the salty air on their skin and listening to the nearby waves. This, she thought, was paradise.

XXX

Maura was quite pleased with how the weekend was going when they headed down to the spa the next morning. After making love on the verandah the previous night, they had split a bottle of wine before bringing the blankets back inside and going for another round in the bed. They'd woken up early for the tai chi class Maura wanted to go to, but hadn't been able to resist going at it again, and when Maura mentioned that they were going to be late for the class, Jane assured her it was okay because they were getting plenty of exercise. Then Maura started talking about the many health benefits of sex (which she'd certainly told Jane about before, but it was one of her favorite things to talk about) and then Jane had kissed her to make her stop talking, and then the kiss became heated, and they ended up having sex again before giving up on tai chi and ordering breakfast from room service.

Maura absolutely insisted that they could not be late for their spa appointment, however, so Jane had grudgingly dragged herself out of bed and thrown on some clothes, hastily dragging a comb through her hair and putting it up in a bun.

"At least you don't need makeup for this," Maura pointed out. "We'll just be getting undressed again anyway."

"Yeah, which is kinda weird. You're the only person I usually get naked with."

Maura laughed. "I'll still the only one you're getting naked _with_. The spa attendants will be wearing clothing."

"Yeah, I know how it works. You've dragged me to enough of these things."

"You can call it dragging if you want, but I know you enjoy it just as much as I do. You need time to relax. You're a very restless person."

"I get plenty of time to relax. I relax when I'm fucking you. I relax watching the Sox play."

"Both of those activities increase your heart rate. I'm looking for something that will _decrease_ it."

They checked in at the spa desk and went into the locker room to change into the provided robes. Then they headed into the couples' suite, where an attendant had just finished running them a hot bath with essential oils in the large, round whirlpool tub. Once they were alone, Maura shed her robe and climbed into the bubbling water, feeling her muscles relax almost immediately. She sighed happily as she watched Jane climb in with her. She really couldn't have found a sexier wife. Jane might not be a cop anymore, but she still worked out regularly and was in excellent shape. She put her arms around Maura, and Maura could feel the strength in them. It was hot.

"I guess you _do_ have some pretty good ideas," said Jane, kissing Maura's cheek. "This is very relaxing." She gently pulled Maura in front of her, seating the smaller woman between her legs.

"Isn't it?" grinned Maura, leaning back against Jane. "It's nice to take a soothing bath without worrying about the kids walking in."

"It is." Jane began to fondle Maura's breasts. "I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my heart rate down, though."

Maura could already feel hers speeding up. "Well, there's always the massage for that," she said.

"I hoped you'd see it that way." Jane's left hand slid down to work Maura's clit while her right moved to cup Maura's left breast, thumb teasing her nipple while her arm brushed against the right nipple. Maura moaned softly, leaning her head back to look up into Jane's face. She curled her arm around Jane's head and kissed her, tenderly at first and then more passionately as Jane increased the pressure of her fingers. Finally Maura broke away from Jane's lips as orgasm overtook her. She threw her head back onto Jane's shoulder, softly crying out her name until her body relaxed again and Jane wrapped her arms tightly around her.

XXX

A sugar scrub and a couple's massage later, Jane and Maura returned to their room for a leisurely lunch from room service and then decided to spend some more time on the beach. Temperatures were in the 80s, so it wasn't warm enough to go in the water, but it was perfect for sunbathing.

"It doesn't count as sunbathing if you're wearing sunblock," Jane grumbled as Maura slathered sunscreen onto Jane's bikini-clad body before they went outside.

"We'll enjoy the warmth of the sun much better if we aren't afraid of getting burnt."

" _I'm_ not afraid of burning. You're the one who burns. I tan."

"You don't want to tan either. A tan means you have skin cell damage, which can lead to premature aging and an increased risk of skin cancer." She kissed Jane's exposed shoulder. "And I want to keep you around."

"Mmm." Jane smiled in spite of herself. "Well, I guess I can't complain about anything that requires you to have your hands all over me."

They spread their beach towels side by side on the sand and stretched out together. Maura had brought a book to read, but she found herself admiring the exquisite woman beside her instead.

"Look at you staring at me with lust in your eyes," said Jane. "Haven't I given you enough over the past 24 hours?"

"First of all, I'm wearing sunglasses, so how can you tell what's in my eyes?"

"I can just tell. I know you."

"Well, to answer your question, no. I find with you, the more I get, the more I want."

Jane chuckled and Maura snuggled up against her, finally turning her attention to her book. She read happily for some time, until a shadow suddenly fell over her. She looked up to see the same woman from yesterday standing over her, clutching a copy of Maura's latest book.

"I hope I'm not bothering you," she said. "I was just wondering if you could sign my book."

"Oh," said Maura. "Sure. Do you have a pen?"

"Yes." The woman fumbled in her purse before handing Maura the book and a pen. Maura wrote a little note on the title page, noticing that the woman(whose name was Elaine, as it turned out) kept eyeing Jane.

"I feel like I should have her sign it too," she said when Maura handed the book back, indicating Jane. "She _is_ the star of the series."

"The character of Simone was _inspired_ by Jane, but she is _not_ Jane. Jane isn't in the books."

"She just looks so much like how I pictured Simone though! I read that you had married a real detective. I would _love_ to see her in action!"

Maura sighed. Perhaps writing about a heroine who looked and acted like Jane wasn't such a good idea after all. Now all sorts of people were falling in love with her wife.

"I can sign it if you really want," said Jane with an amused smile. When Elaine excitedly handed the book over, she wrote under Maura's signature: _Jane Rizzoli (Maura's wife)_.

"Aren't you a real detective?" Elaine asked.

"I was," said Jane modestly. "My biggest job now is being married to this amazing medical examiner and raising our beautiful children." She kissed Maura's cheek lovingly, making a big show for Maura's sake.

"Oh, she's as sweet as she is sexy!" Elaine told Maura. "What a pleasure to see her in person!"

"Yes, Maura, it's a pleasure to see me in person," Jane remarked when Elaine had walked away. "Why don't you look happier about it?"

"I'm certain she was checking you in your bikini," Maura frowned.

"You mean checking me _out_? You're the one who packed a bikini for me. I thought you wanted the merchandise on display."

"It would be politer if people looked at you covertly."

"That old man over there isn't being very covert about watching _you_."

Maura followed Jane's gaze. There was an elderly man watching her from a lounger. He smiled when he saw her looking.

"If I can put up with it, so can you," Jane told her with a smirk.

XXX

The rest of the afternoon and evening were booked, with tea at the hotel, the cooking class/wine tasting Maura had signed up for, dinner at one of the resort's less formal restaurants, and shopping at the hotel boutique. Maura was tired but happy by the time they got back to their room. She went into the bedroom, stowed away her shopping bags, and started taking off her jewelry, considering whether she should run a bath or go out on the verandah for a bit first. She noticed Jane in the doorway watching her and was just about to ask what she wanted to do when the brunette entered the room, grabbed Maura in her arms, and began kissing her intensely. Maura couldn't remember the last time Jane had come at her like this, as though she had lost all control at the sight of her. It had happened a few times when they were dating, before and after they moved in together. But it hadn't happened since Maura's abduction years ago because Jane had become afraid of seeming forceful, though she found plenty of other ways to make Maura feel loved and desired.

Maura slid her arms around Jane as Jane pushed her up against the wall, trying to make clear to her wife that she wanted this, that she didn't want her to slow down. Jane pressed her body against Maura's and ran her tongue down Maura's neck, causing Maura to shiver. "Oh, Jane," she whispered.

"You like this?" Jane breathed, unzipping Maura's dress.

"Yes." Maura's dress dropped to the floor and she stepped out of it. She could feel that she'd already drenched her panties.

"Good." Jane unhooked Maura's bra and pulled it off, tossing it onto the floor. "You're so fucking sexy, I don't think I could have restrained myself much longer." She cupped Maura's breasts and teased her nipples with her thumbs.

"Tell me what you're going to do to me," whispered Maura, threading her fingers into Jane's glorious mane.

"What I want," said Jane, sliding her hands down Maura's sides, "is to hear you scream my name." She hooked her thumbs over the waistband of Maura's panties and pushed them down. "So I'm going to fuck you like crazy until you do."

"Do it," whispered Maura, stepping out of her panties and standing naked before her wife, her lover.

"I will," Jane promised, two of her fingers finding Maura's clit. "I'm going to fuck you until my hand is drenched and my fingers are shriveled and you can't even stand up anymore." Her fingers began to move, stroking Maura slowly and evenly.

"Do it," Maura repeated, moving against Jane's hand. Jane stroked her clit faster and faster as Maura clung to her and whimpered, until finally she cried out, "Jane! I need you inside of me! _Now!_ "

Jane's fingers slipped inside easily, and she immediately began sliding them in and out, thrusting deeper each time, until Maura's legs went weak and she had to wrap her arms around Jane's neck to hold herself up.

"Don't worry, baby," Jane promised, her free arm wrapped tightly around Maura's waist. "I won't let you fall. I'm just gonna keep fucking you until you come so hard you can't even see straight."

Maura moaned. Between the intensity of the situation and Jane's sexy voice telling her what she was going to do, it didn't take long at all before Maura was coming, screaming Jane's name just as Jane wanted. And when she started to come down from the first orgasm, another one came right on its heels, and she realized this time that Jane was climaxing right along with her even though Maura hadn't touched her. Maura leaned heavily against her, planting kisses along her collarbone.

"I think I need to get you onto the bed," Jane observed, helping Maura away from the wall and then lifting her off her feet a little to put her onto the bed, stretching out beside her.

"Jane," said Maura weakly, "I want you to do that again sometime."

Jane smiled. "I think I can manage that."

XXX

They were sad to leave the resort the following day, but happy to be going home to see their girls again. Eva had cried when they Skyped the previous night, reaching her little hand out as if to pull her mothers through the screen. Jane had calmed her by reading her a book they'd gotten at the hotel boutique, a picture book about the resort. Then they'd had a lovely night full of lovemaking, but had still managed to get up in time to attend brunch and the yoga class Maura wanted. They'd had one final encounter with the book lady, who was still unabashedly ogling Jane, but Maura was able to laugh about it this time.

"When the kids are a little older, we can go away for longer sometime," Maura told Jane. "Maybe I'll rent us a private villa on the beach in Saint Barthélemy and we can have sex right out on the beach!"

"What's in Saint Barthélemy?"

"Beautiful beaches."

"I assumed so, but how'd you pick those particular beaches?"

Maura looked at her somewhat sheepishly. "There are also many designer shops."

"I knew there had to be a catch."

Maura looked at her, eyes big. "I'll make it worth your while!"

Jane smiled at her fondly, pulling into their driveway. "I know you will."

Angela greeted them at the door and helped them carry their bags in. "Everyone's coming over for dinner here tonight, to celebrate your anniversary," she told them. "I got you a cake. Also, the girls have a little surprise for you."

Maura couldn't wait to see her daughters and hug them close. She walked into the house, her hand in Jane's, and heard Charlotte yell, "Surprise!"

The girls were standing on either side of their little art easel, on which was a big, colorful poster that said "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOMMY AND MAMA! LOVE, CHARLOTTE AND EVA." The lettering was clearly Angela's, but each girl had signed her own name (Charlotte in purple, Eva in her usual three colors) and had drawn pictures all over. The other surprise, which they quickly noticed as the two girls came barreling towards them for hugs, was that each girl was dressed as the mother she most resembled. Charlotte was wearing a little police costume, complete with plastic handcuffs dangling from the belt, and Eva was wearing a little white lab coat, toy medical bag in her hand.

"I'm dressed like you, Mommy," Eva said as Maura lifted her in her arms.

"You look just like me," Maura told her, kissing her head and inhaling the scent of her baby shampoo.

"And I'm you," Charlotte told Jane proudly. "I even have a badge!"

"Yes, I see that," said Jane. "You look fierce! Ma, you got her toy handcuffs?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that? You don't need a key to undo them or anything. You said you didn't want her to have a toy gun."

"Have you forgotten about the time I handcuffed Tommy under the bathroom sink with _my_ toy handcuffs and he was stuck there for three hours because I went outside and he couldn't get them undone? If I find Eva handcuffed to something—"

"Charlotte wouldn't do that, would you, Charlotte? I had to make her outfit complete. Don't they look adorable as miniature versions of you?"

"They do," Jane admitted. "Charlotte's the one who likes medical stuff though. She always wants to go to work with Maura."

"I like the morgue," said Charlotte brightly.

"That's no place for a child!" exclaimed Angela.

"I never take her when there's a dead body out," Maura assured her.

"I want to see a body though," said Charlotte. "Mommy likes dead people."

"No denying that," said Jane, looking out the window. "Looks like your Uncle Frankie and Aunt Nina are here."

"I'm gonna show them my costume!" said Charlotte excitedly, pulling out her handcuffs.

"Okay, but whatever you do, do not put those handcuffs on your little sister," Jane told her sternly.

"Can I put them on Barry?"

"No. No one smaller than you gets handcuffed, okay?"

"What about T.J.?"

Jane considered that. "Yeah, sure."

Charlotte ran off, but Eva remained in Maura's arms, leaning her head against her chest. Maura was perfectly content to keep the little girl there as long as she wanted.

"Come look at your cake!" Angela told them, leading them into the kitchen. "Isn't it beautiful? I got it from the same place that made your wedding cake!"

"The same really expensive bakery?" said Jane dubiously.

Maura had no doubt that it was. Although it was just a small, heart-shaped cake, it had a gorgeous fondant image of Jane and Maura riding a motorcycle.

"It's beautiful!" exclaimed Maura. "Jane, look! It's us!"

"Yeah, we seem to be everywhere today," said Jane. "Ma, did you pay for this with the credit card Maura left?"

Angela shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't think she'd mind. It's for you two!"

"I don't mind," Maura promised.

"I told you if you left her the credit card she would use it for something frivolous," Jane muttered to Maura.

"Oh, Jane, don't be a spoilsport," said Angela. "It's a special occasion! You've been married seven years and your flame is burning just as bright as ever. How many couples can say that?"

Maura nudged Jane, smiling. "She's right."

Jane's face softened. "Yeah, you're right." She slipped an arm around Maura and whispered into her ear, "I'd say it's burning brighter than ever."


	5. Chapter 5: The Kittens

Chapter 5 – The Kitten Invasion

 _In which Jane finds herself outnumbered_

June 12, 2022

"Okay, is that finally everything?" said Jane, putting a sippy cup in the drainboard in Korsak's kitchen. Normally they had Sunday dinner at her and Maura's house, but this week Korsak had wanted to try out his new pasta maker, so they'd all come to his place. And, somehow, Jane had gotten roped into doing the dishes.

"That's all," chuckled Angela.

"I hope everyone's done having kids now. The dishes have been multiplying exponentially."

"Oh, Jane, don't be ridiculous. You and your brothers have five kids between you. That's not that many. Do you realize what family gatherings were like when you kids and your cousins were little?"

"I imagine a nightmare, from your point of view," said Jane, drying her hands on a towel. "Speaking of which, where _are_ my wife and children? We need to get home. The girls have school in the morning."

"Korsak took them to the basement to see his newest litter of rescued kittens."

"Okay." Jane turned to the basement stairs, remembering Korsak talking about the kittens at dinner. He said they were eight weeks old now, ready to find new homes…

A horrible thought struck her and she darted down the stairs, hoping she would get there before it was too late.

It was.

Maura was chatting amiably with Korsak while six-year-old Charlotte played with a black kitten and Eva, who had just turned four, cradled a Siamese kitten. Both girls looked up when they saw Jane and cried, "Mama!"

"No," said Jane before they could even ask the question.

"Uncle Korsak said we could each pick out a kitten if we wanted to," said Charlotte.

"I don't know why he would say something like that." Jane glared at Korsak. "Nobody's getting a kitten."

"Mommy said we could as long as it was okay with you," Eva said.

"It is not okay with me," said Jane, giving Maura a reproachful look. Maura smiled innocently.

"But this one's really fun and I already named him Chewy," said Charlotte, holding up the black kitten.

"Chewy?"

"Like Chewbacca."

"I'm going to call mine Sally," said Eva earnestly, peering up at Jane.

Jane didn't even have to ask who that was for. Currently Eva wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up, and she was obsessed with Sally Ride.

"That's sweet, Eva, but Sally needs to find a home with, you know, people who like cats."

"I like cats," said Eva.

"Yeah, me too," said Charlotte.

"I like animals in general," said Maura.

"Okay, great, but I hate cats. We had a cat when I was a kid and he was _psycho_. I never want another cat in my house."

"Pleeeeeeeeeaaaase?" begged Charlotte.

"Pleeeeeeeeaaase?" Eva chimed in. They both looked up at her with big, round, pleading eyes. Jane looked to Maura for support, but Maura was giving her the same eyes.

 _These girls are going to be the death of me_ , Jane thought.

"We can't," she said weakly. "I'm allergic to cats."

"No you're not," said Maura. "You aren't showing any symptoms."

"Yet," said Jane, trying desperately to work up a sneeze.

"But I want Sally," said Eva, her little lip trembling.

"I have an idea," said Korsak. "Why don't you take them home for a couple of weeks, see how it works out, and if it doesn't, you can bring them back and I'll find a new home?"

"That's a great idea!" agreed Maura.

"Fine," said Jane. "But one week, not two."

"Okay," said Charlotte.

"But not tonight. We don't have any cat stuff." Jane hoped a night of sleep would bring everyone back to their senses.

"Actually, Korsak was just telling me he could put together a kitten starter kit for us," said Maura brightly.

"Yep, I can give you some kitten food, a scratching post, a litter box, and a few toys," Korsak agreed. "That's enough to get you through the week, and then if you decide to keep them, you can always go out and buy more supplies."

"I would definitely want to get a cat tree that goes with our decorating scheme," said Maura.

"You're not buying a cat tree, because we're giving the kittens back at the end of the week," Jane muttered through her teeth. Maura just smiled enigmatically.

"Can I take Sally home now?" Eva asked.

"I'll get you a carrier," Korsak told her.

XXX

"So Korsak said he found a dirty, pregnant Siamese cat who had clearly been abandoned," Maura explained to Jane after they got home. The girls were playing with the kittens in Eva's room. "Someone's expensive cat they didn't get spayed who got out and had a tryst with the neighborhood Tom, it looks like. He must have been black since some of the kittens are black. A shame that someone would just throw out their cat just for getting pregnant, when they could easily have prevented it."

"Fascinating," said Jane. "It'll be a great story to tell whoever adopts these cats."

Maura looked at her for a moment. "What was Walrus like?"

"Our cat? He was the devil's spawn."

"How did you get him?"

"He was a stray Tommy took in, and he hated everyone except for Tommy. He peed on everything and he hissed at you if you even looked at him. You definitely couldn't pet him or he'd bite a hole in your hand. And one time, I was eating a chicken nugget and that cat just flew out of nowhere, grabbed it out of my hand, and ran off with it. He was _evil_."

Maura laughed. "It sounds like he was feral."

"Oh, he was feral all right."

"That means he wasn't domesticated at the right age, so he was still a wild animal. That shouldn't be a problem with these kittens."

"Nothing's going to be a problem, because we're not keeping them. I just hope they don't tear up the house first."

Maura looked at her more seriously. "Cats can be wonderful therapy pets for children with autism."

"First off, that's hard to believe. Second, Eva doesn't need a therapy pet. She's not, you know, _that_ autistic."

"Lots of people use therapy pets. They're also common for people with PTSD. Just about any type of pet can become a therapy pet. I feel like Sally could be really good for Eva. They're already forming a bond."

"I _knew_ this was a bad idea." If she bonded with the kitten, it was going to be hard, if not impossible, the give the little bastards back.

"Do you really think anything that's good for our daughter could be a bad idea?" Maura went out to the hallway to tell the girls it was time to get ready for bed.

Jane groaned.

XXX

Day 1 

"Do we have to go to school today?" Charlotte complained over breakfast. "I want to stay home with the kittens."

"Nope, kittens are not a good excuse for missing school," Jane told her sternly. "They'll be fine until you get home. It's the house you should be worried about."

"I don't think it would be a good idea to let them run loose while we're gone," said Maura, who was fixing Eva's hair. The little Siamese kitten was sitting in Eva's lap, slapping at strands of her hair whenever they came within reach. Eva normally sat stock still, her face completely solemn, while she got her hair done, but this morning she was giggling. _Giggling_ , like any four-year-old.

"Where are you going to put them?" Charlotte asked in concern.

"I'm going to put them in the master bedroom, with everything they need."

" _Our_ bedroom?" asked Jane in disbelief. "What if they scratch up the sheets or the curtains?"

"I've put their scratching post in there. It should be a safe and comfortable place for them, since they'll have the attached bathroom with their litter box."

"Well, if they ruin your silk sheets, don't come crying to me about it."

"I'm not worried," Maura assured her, a stubborn glint in her eyes. Jane dreaded that look, because it _always_ resulted in Maura getting her way.

Charlotte took her breakfast dishes to the sink and gazed out the back window at the pile of lumber in the yard. The wood had been delivered the previous week, and it was going to become their custom designed playground. It would be built in the shape of a castle, with plenty of nooks and crannies and slides and things. It was going to be amazing when it was finished.

"Are the builders coming to start our playground today?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes, they'll be here while you're at school," Jane told her.

"Will we be able to climb on it when we get home?"

"Not yet. It won't be safe to climb on until it's finished."

Charlotte stared longingly at the lumber. "I can't wait until we _can_ play on it."

"I know, but for now, you need to get ready to catch the bus."

Charlotte went to kindergarten at a fancy private school Maura had chosen after a lot of research, but they did provide bus service to kids who lived here in Jamaica Plain, where the school was located. Jane walked her older daughter to the bus stop and kissed her goodbye when the bus pulled up (she was still young enough to allow that) before heading back to the house, where she kissed the other two ladies in her life goodbye and then drove off to the Boston Police Academy to teach a morning class.

She had almost forgotten about the kitten invaders when she finished her class and went to pick Eva up from nursery school. Eva came running to greet her with a picture she'd drawn of Sally.

"All she's talked about all day is her new kitten," the teacher told Jane. "It's the most I've heard her talk all year."

Jane looked at her daughter in amazement. She'd been going to nursery school three days a week since September, and the whole time her teachers had reported that she rarely spoke.

"Samantha has a kitty too," Eva told Jane. "Can she come over and see Sally sometime?"

"Um, we'll have to talk to Mommy about it," said Jane, taken aback. That was another thing the teachers had been saying all year: Eva barely interacted with the other kids unless the teachers told her to. She hadn't really made friends; for her fourth birthday last week, she had asked that only family members come to her party. "Which one is Samantha?" asked Jane, scooping her daughter up in her arms.

"The girl over there," Eva said, pointing to the play kitchen, where a dark-haired girl was arranging play food on the table.

"And you want her to come to our house and play with you?"

Eva nodded. "She knows a lot about cats."

"Okay," said Jane. "I think we can make that happen." She turned to the teacher. "When Samantha's parents come, can you give them my number?"

The teacher promised to do so, and Jane carried the little girl out to her car. Maybe that kitten _would_ be good for Eva.

As soon as they got home, Eva ran upstairs to liberate the kittens from the master bedroom. Jane followed, starting to feel like maybe she should consider keeping the cats…until she saw the bedroom.

Actually, she smelled it before she saw it. The room absolutely _reeked_ of Maura's perfume. It was a nice smell in smaller quantities, but this was completely overpowering. She stepped into the room so see the perfume bottle smashed on the floor next to Maura's vanity, along with every other object that had once sat on that surface. And, as she looked around the room, she realized that nearly every small object that had once sat on any kind of surface was now on the floor. Hairbrushes. Framed pictures. The clay thing Charlotte made in art class that she said was a squirrel, although Jane thought it looked more like some sort of deformed seahorse. The entire room was a wreck.

There were a lot of words Jane wanted to say, but none of them were appropriate to say in front of Eva, so she bit her tongue. Meanwhile, Eva had walked straight up to the bed, on which her beloved kitten was lounging innocently as if she had done nothing wrong.

"Hi Sally," said Eva cheerfully, apparently not concerned with the state of her parents' bedroom. "I drew a picture of you!" She held the drawing up, and Eva carefully sniffed it over before climbing onto Eva's little shoulder and rubbing her head against Eva's blonde hair.

"Oh, look at her!" Eva exclaimed, giggling. "I think she really likes her picture."

"Yeah," said Jane distractedly. "I don't even see the other—"

Before she could finish her sentence, the black kitten zoomed out from under the bed and began climbing Jane, his little claws digging into her skin.

" _Ow!_ " Jane yelled. "Stop! I'm not a _tree_!"

She pried the kitten off her body and held him out in the air, biting back still more words that could not be uttered in front of Eva. The four-year-old stared up at her with wide, innocent eyes. "Maybe he thinks you _are_ a tree!" she suggested. "You're tall like a tree."

"Yes, thank you," said Jane. "Do you see what these cats have done to our bedroom?"

"Samantha said cats like knocking things down."

"Yeah, apparently they do. We can't have them here if they're going to do this all the time."

"I'll talk to them," Eva promised solemnly. Sally continued to sit on her shoulder like a parrot.

"All right," said Jane, unable to keep from smiling. "What do you want for lunch?"

Jane felt certain that when Maura found out what those evil little cats had done to their bedroom, she would insist on taking them right back to Korsak, but she had no such luck. Instead, Maura was concerned about the kittens ingesting perfume and insisted on wiping them both down before scrubbing the bedroom floor. Then she started talking about kitten-proofing the house.

"Maura, we don't need to rearrange our house for these cats. We're not keeping them!"

"You said we would give them a chance," said Maura. "You shouldn't have said that if you didn't mean it."

"Well, you guys didn't exactly give me a choice. But fine, I'm giving them a chance. This is me, giving them a chance!" She turned to flash a smile at the black kitten, who immediately shot back up her leg like she was a tree. " _Oww!_ " she yelled again, prying the kitten off while Maura struggled to suppress her laughter. "How long until this week is over?"

"I won't be surprised if you love these kittens by the end of the week," Maura told her.

"I will."

XXX

Day 3

By Wednesday, Maura had more or less kitten-proofed the house, and had purchased a fancy cat tree over Jane's objections. The girls, unfortunately, weren't getting tired of the kittens. Eva's new friend Samantha was coming over on Saturday to play with Eva and the kittens, which meant they definitely couldn't go back to Korsak until Sunday, but Jane was still hopeful that they would go then. Sally pretty much stuck to Eva like glue, so she wasn't so bad, but Chewy kept forgetting that Charlotte was supposed to be his human and following Jane around instead, which annoyed the hell out of her.

So she wasn't too surprised when she settled into bed Wednesday night, the latest chapter of Maura's newest detective-novel-in-progress in her hand, and that little black furball climbed up on the bed and curled up against her face, purring.

"You're supposed to be in Charlotte's bed," she informed the kitten.

"He likes you too," said Maura, sliding into bed beside her in a sexy silk nightgown.

"Why does he have to pick on the one person in the house who doesn't want him here?"

"Maybe you remind him of Charlotte. She does look like you."

Jane frowned at the cat. "You want the mini version, not the big one. Go bug her."

"Jane, he's not hurting anything."

"That's easy for you to say. You're not about to be smothered in your sleep by a small, furry body."

Maura laughed. "Neither are you."

"Have you seen Chewy?" Charlotte came into the room, her hair tousled, eyes sleepy.

"Yeah, he's right here, take him! I don't want him here!" Jane gratefully handed the kitten over to her daughter.

"You're being rude to him," grumbled Charlotte. "Come on, Chewy. You can sleep in my room. _I'll_ be nice to you."

Jane could hear Maura chuckling as the six-year-old retreated from the room, but she ignored her and returned to reading the chapter.

"Well, what did you think?" Maura asked when Jane put it down and turned off her lamp.

"Brilliant, as always. I still have no idea who the killer is, and I'm loving the way you mix in romance, especially since you do it in a gay way."

Maura smiled. "Well, lesbian romances _are_ my favorite."

"Are they now?"

"Yes, now that I'm living one." Maura switched off her own lamp and snuggled in closer to Jane, her soft lips moving down Jane's neck while her hand began to creep up Jane's tank top.

"Mmm, someone's feeling romantic right now," murmured Jane, lifting her body a little to make it easier for Maura to get the tank top off.

"You're very sexy when you're reading my rough drafts." Maura slipped off Jane's shorts, then, straddling her, pulled her own nightgown over her head. As usual, she had nothing on underneath.

"You're so efficient at getting us naked now," said Jane, reaching up to cup those big, beautiful tits. "You used to like dragging it out." She flicked Maura's nipples with her thumbs.

"That was before we had kids!" said Maura, playfully kneading Jane's breasts. "Now we just have to get it done before one of them wanders in here and tells us she has a tummy ache." She bent down to lick each of Jane's nipples and then blew on each in turn.

"Mmm." Jane shivered pleasantly. "I'm glad we had those babies, and I'm glad we breastfed them for the recommended amount of time even though some people tried to tell us it was too long." She tugged at Maura, pulling her up to her level. "But I'm also glad that we're done with that now, and _these_ are only for us." She gave Maura's tits a gentle squeeze on the word _these_. "Get up here. I wanna suck them."

Maura crawled upwards, her knees still on either side of Jane, and lowered a stiff nipple into Jane's waiting mouth. Jane ran her tongue around it, then rolled it lightly between her teeth. Maura moaned. Jane began to suck, rolling the other nipple between her fingers as she did so, when suddenly she felt someone grab her foot.

"Maura!" she hissed as she pulled back. "One of the kids got in!"

Maura hurriedly rolled off of Jane and pulled the blankets up, but there was no kid in sight. Then Jane felt it again: something wrapped around her foot, digging in with razor-sharp claws.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, it's one of the cats," she groaned, digging around under the blankets until she pulled out a squirming black kitten. "I thought you were in Charlotte's room!"

Maura started laughing. "Well, it's better than the kids walking in on us!" she said. "Now, you need to get back to what you were doing." She threw back the blankets, revealing her sexy naked body once again. Jane hurriedly tossed the kitten to the floor and grabbed for her wife. Logically she knew the kitten was just going to come back, but she always found it difficult to listen to reason when Naked Maura was right in front of her. She pulled the blonde back on top of her and Maura started climbing back towards the headboard, only this time it wasn't a nipple that she offered to Jane's mouth.

Jane was okay with that. Maura's pussy was dripping wet and completely ready for her, and she was more than happy to drink those juices. So she began to do exactly that, no thought in her mind but the fact that she didn't mind letting Maura sit on her face any damn time she pleased.

Maura was approaching climax when the kitten attacked Jane's foot again.

Jane knew she couldn't stop. Maura would flip out if she stopped now. So she tried shaking the kitten off her foot as she continued to do her job with Maura, but the kitten just grabbed on tighter and started biting her toe. She winced but kept licking, kicking her foot harder. She managed to dislodge the kitten, but it just latched back on, this time with a vengeance. She cried out in pain and Maura moaned in response. _Please come soon, please come soon_ , Jane thought, trying to push the kitten away with her other foot. In response, the kitten started wrestling both feet at once. _How does something so small inflict so much damage?_

Soon Maura was making sounds like could only mean she was starting to come. Jane gave up fighting the kitten and kept working until Maura went over the edge. As soon as Maura rolled back to her own side of the bed, Jane sat up and grabbed the kitten.

"Why does this cat like my feet so much?" she griped. "I can't wait to take them back to Korsak!"

"Jane," said Maura in dismay.

"What? You can't possibly want to keep the evil little things! Look at this one, he's a perv! He's trying to get in the middle of our sexy time!"

"Jane, it's not like he understands what we're doing. He's just bored and wants to play."

"Well, I'm kicking him out before we do anything else." She carried the kitten to the door, tossed him out in the hallway, and shut the door before he could get back in. Then she returned to bed, flopping down before Maura, who smiled and began kissing her way down Jane's body. Jane felt herself relax, closing her eyes as Maura's mouth landed exactly where she wanted it to be. She moaned, trying to push herself farther into Maura's mouth, throwing her head back as she felt herself getting closer…

And then something landed on her head. She yelped, and Maura pulled back in alarm.

"That fucking cat!" Jane growled. "He must have gotten in through the bathroom!" The kitten was burrowing into her curls, and he seemed to just dig in deeper when Jane tried to pull him out. Maura, who looked somewhat amused, extracted the kitten and carried him back to the bathroom, this time shutting the only other door that accessed the bedroom. Then she came back and finished Jane off.

"Those kittens are so going back to Korsak's this weekend," Jane insisted before falling asleep.

XXX

Day 5

As she finished cleaning up from supper Friday evening, Jane gazed out into the yard at the playground that was taking shape. The frame was entirely laid out: a tower on each side with a large bridge connecting them, from which the swings would hang, and a third tower in the back that would later be connected by a bouncy bridge. The walls were only partially built though, and the children had been cautioned to stay away until it was completed. It was going to be awesome, though. Jane almost wished she could be a kid again so she could play on it.

"Mama, come look at the kittens!" she heard Charlotte shout from the living room. Rolling her eyes, she went down the hall to see. She'd really hoped the kids would be bored with those kittens by now, but their interest wasn't fading. The fridge was now covered in pictures they'd drawn of the cats.

She found Charlotte waving a wand toy around for the kittens, basically a stick with a string on it and feathers tied to the string. When she made the feathers soar through the air, the kittens would leap after it, often doing somersaults as Charlotte and Eva laughed in delight. Maura had her camera out and was taking pictures of the children playing with the kittens.

"Look how high I can make them jump!" Charlotte told her excitedly. Jane couldn't help but smile as she watched both girls transfixed by the leaping kittens.

"I bet I can make them jump higher," she said, reaching for the toy. Sure enough, she was able to make the kittens leap almost as high as the children's heads. Jane made the feathers soar over the couch, and both kittens ran over the top of the couch to get it.

"I'm trying to get a picture of one of them in the air, but they move too fast!" said Maura.

"You have to time it just right," said Jane. "Get ready, and then the second I wave the toy, push the button before the cat even gets in the air."

"Let me try it," said Maura, getting on her knees.

"Okay, you ready?" said Jane. "Now!" With a flick of her wrist, Jane sent the feathers flying in the air, and Chewy flew through the air after them.

"I think I got him, but he was blurred. Let me change the settings and try again," said Maura.

So Jane made the kitten leap through the air several times while Maura snapped as many pictures as she could, trying to get the perfect shot of him in midair. Finally he tired out and started refusing to jump, so Maura began flipping through the pictures and showing Jane the ones that came out well.

"Where are the girls?" Jane asked, setting the toy down.

Maura looked up. "I don't know. They were just here…"

"But we got distracted by the kitten. I _told_ you those things were trouble."

"Jane, I'm sure they just went upstairs to play." Maura went to the bottom of the stairs and called both girls' names, but there was no answer. "Maybe they went to the playroom," Maura reasoned. She started up the stairs towards the third floor playroom, but then Jane noticed something.

"Wait," she said, pointing to the back door, where Eva's kitten sat looking mournful. "I think they went outside."

"Oh, no. They'd better not be climbing on that playground."

Jane ran out the door, Maura right behind her, and saw immediately that both girls were standing on one of the castle towers, peering down over a partially constructed railing.

"What are you two doing?" Maura cried, running towards them. "We told you not to climb on this until it's finished! It's not safe yet!"

Eva immediately burst into tears, turning to Charlotte. "I _told_ you we shouldn't do it! Now you got me in trouble!"

"How did you even get up there?" Jane asked.

"They built the stairs in the other tower, so we climbed up those," said Charlotte.

"Then I suggest you come back down the same way. Right now."

Both girls made their way down from the structure, Charlotte coming quietly while Eva stamped her feet the whole way, still crying.

"It was _her_ idea," Eva told them when she made it back to the ground, pointing at her big sister. "I didn't want to do it, but she said it was safe and you wouldn't notice if we were sneaky."

"Well, just because Charlotte says it's okay doesn't mean you have to do it," Jane told her, sitting down on a bench to be closer to her eye level. "You know the rules."

"Yes, I do," Eva admitted, her little face scrunching up as she cried even harder. "It was bad. I should have a punishment."

"Um, okay," said Jane. This was certainly a first. What kind of kid _asked_ for a punishment? "Well, what do you think your punishment should be?"

Eva thought for a minute. "Put me in time out," she decided.

"Okay, go to time out then," said Jane.

"Okay. I'll stay there until I'm _sure_ I can _behave_ myself," the little blonde declared fiercely, before shooting her sister a look of betrayal and shouting, "I'm never going to listen to you _ever again_! You're a _bad influence_!" Then she stomped into the house, wailing the whole way. Jane raised her eyebrows at Maura, who simply raised hers back.

"Well, you've corrupted your little sister," Jane said, turning to Charlotte. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry," said Charlotte.

"Sorry you did it, or sorry you got caught?"

Charlotte chewed her lip for a moment. "Sorry I got caught," she admitted.

Maura sat down beside Jane with a heavy sigh. "And what if you or Eva had fallen over the edge and gotten hurt? Then would you be sorry you did it?"

"Yes, but we were careful not to get too close to the edge where the rails weren't built yet. We just wanted to see what it was like up there."

"But even the rails that have been built aren't finished," Maura pointed out. They were going to be crenelated walls when they were finished, easy to peer over but not so easy to fall over.

"If you can't stay off the playground until it's complete, maybe we should just have it taken back down," said Jane.

"No!" cried Charlotte in alarm. "I won't do it again, I promise!"

"Are you sure you can handle it? Because there are lots of kids whose parents can't afford to build big playgrounds for them, or who don't have big yards to put them in, and I'm sure those kids wouldn't mind having to wait a week or two for their playground to be finished. If you can't handle the things you're extremely fortunate to have, maybe you don't need to have them."

"Being impatient does make you seem unappreciative," Maura agreed.

"No, I appreciate it! I'm just excited! I won't do it again, please, don't take it down!"

"Consider this a warning then," said Jane sternly. "If either one of you sets foot on that playground again before we say it's safe, we'll take it right back down. We can always have it moved to Uncle Frankie's yard for his kids, or give it to TJ." There was no way in hell Jane was going to do that after all the money they'd spent on this thing, but Charlotte didn't need to know that.

"No, I promise, we won't get on it again until it's safe!"

"Okay," said Jane, her tone still very grave. "Go play inside. No TV tonight."

"But—"

"You heard your mother," said Maura. It had to be hell hearing that from two different parents, Jane thought in amusement.

"Fine," said Charlotte, slowly making her way back to the house.

"We'd better go deal with the smaller one," said Jane, standing up. "Seriously, what kind of kid puts herself in time out?"

"She's never really been in trouble before," Maura pointed out.

"As upset as she is, it'll probably be another four years before she sets a toe out of line again."

Maura held the door for Jane. "You know…"

"What?"

"You were enjoying the kittens. That's why you didn't notice the kids going outside."

"You didn't notice either."

"Because I was also enjoying the kittens. I can admit that."

"I would admit it too, if it were true."

Maura just smirked, leading the way upstairs to Eva's room.

They found the four-year-old sitting at her little play table, her kitten in her lap. Tears were still on her face and she was sniffling quietly as she stroked Sally.

"Hey," said Jane, sitting in one of the other chairs, although it was pretty small for her. "Do you feel like you're ready to behave yourself now?"

"I'm not sure yet," Eva said tearfully.

"You know, I think if you feel this bad about what you did, you're probably not going to do it again."

Eva wiped a tear away. "I feel really bad."

"Eva, sweetie, everybody makes bad decisions sometimes," said Maura, sitting on Eva's other side. "We're not mad. We were just afraid of you getting hurt."

Eva picked up the kitten and climbed into Maura's lap, leaning her head against her chest. Maura wrapped her arms tightly around the little girl, and Jane couldn't help but smile at the sight of the two of them together: Maura and her Mini Me. She supposed the kitten was kind of cute too.

"She's right," said Jane. "We all make bad choices every once in a while."

"Even you?" asked Eva.

"Oh yeah, I've made more bad decisions than you can count. Even your mommy has made a few. The important thing is that you always try to do better the next time."

Eva nodded. "I won't climb on the playground again until it's finished."

"I know you won't." Jane moved closer and swept a strand of hair out of Eva's face, then kissed her forehead. "We told Charlotte no TV tonight, and that goes for you too. Next week the playground will be finished and you can play on it all you want."

"Okay," said Eva. Jane, unable to take the cuteness anymore, wrapped her arms around both wife and child.

"Can I have a hug too?" asked Charlotte, appearing in the doorway with Chewy in her arms.

"Get over here," said Jane with a smile.

Charlotte walked hesitantly to them. "I'm sorry I was a bad influence on you," she told Eva.

"It's okay," said Eva. "We all make bad choices sometimes."

So Charlotte joined the group hug, and Jane shifted to make sure her arms were around all three of her favorite girls. Normally she hated group hugs, but when it came to these three, nothing made her happier.

It didn't even bother her too much that the kittens were involved this time.

XXX

Day 7

On Saturday night, the girls asked Jane if she'd decided about the kittens yet, and she told them she had until dinnertime on Sunday to decide. The truth was, she knew what she was going to have to say, and she was just hoping something would happen to make it easier.

Sunday morning was nice and quiet, the way Sundays should be. Maura was in her study working on the next chapter to her book. Charlotte was pushing her fancy doll pram around while carrying a child-size designer purse that was a miniature version of one of Maura's purses (designer purses for children were something Jane would have remained blissfully unaware of her whole life if she hadn't married Maura, but since she had, her own children owned such things). Jane was in the living room, reading the Sunday paper on the couch. Eva was also in the living room, wearing her astronaut costume. She had spread out a variety of "moon rocks" on the rug and was carefully collecting them with a little grabber tool while Sally watched, playfully slapping at rocks here and there. Jane had just remarked that they needed to get a little spacesuit for the cat when all hell broke loose.

Charlotte came running through the hall, crying hysterically. "Somebody help!" she yelled frantically.

"What's wrong?" asked Jane, throwing aside the newspaper. Down the hall, Maura came running out of her study.

"I took Chewy outside in my doll pram, but he jumped out, and when I tried to catch him, he went under the fence!"

"Charlotte, the cats aren't supposed to go outside!" Maura scolded.

"I know, but I thought he would stay in the pram!"

"Okay, well, we'll get him," said Jane, heading for the door. "Which yard did he go into?"

"That's the worst part!" said Charlotte, choking back a sob. "He went into _Rizzo's_ yard!"

Jane's blood went cold. Rizzo was the meanest dog in the neighborhood. The kids wouldn't even play within three feet of the part of the fence that bordered his yard, as he had a bad habit of growling at them through the fence. Other dog owners in the neighborhood took their dogs in when they saw Rizzo going for a walk. Rizzo ripped squirrels and rabbits apart like it was nothing, and Jane had no doubt he would do the same to a kitten if he saw one.

"All right," she said, trying to sound calm. "No need to panic. Rizzo might be inside right now." She went to the back of the yard and peered through the fence while Maura tried to calm the two crying girls (Eva had started in too as soon as she heard Chewy was in Rizzo's yard). There was Chewy, just on the other side, innocently chasing a butterfly. Across the yard, Rizzo lay just outside his doghouse, not yet looking this way.

"Here, kitty, kitty," Jane called softly. Chewy looked at her for a moment, then turned his attention back to the butterfly.

Rizzo, unfortunately, had heard her voice and looked in her direction…which meant he saw Chewy. He stood up.

"Chewy, come here boy!" Jane called, a little more frantically. He really had no idea of the danger he was in. He was still following that butterfly, and Rizzo was now on the move. Jane thought of the poor kitten in the jaws of that hellhound and realized there was only one thing to do. So she vaulted the fence and scooped up the kitten, barely feeling Rizzo's jaws close on her arm as she did so. The dog let go and stepped back, surprised that he wasn't biting what he thought he was biting, which gave Jane just enough time to scramble back over the fence with the kitten in her hand.

"Chewy!" Charlotte shouted, running forwards to reclaim her kitten. Eva ran too, still in her spacesuit, relieved to see the little black kitten was unharmed.

"Get him inside before he runs off again," Jane told them.

"Jane, you're hurt!" said Maura. "Rizzo bit you?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Jane looked down to see her arm was bleeding.

"Come inside and let me treat it," said Maura. She took Jane into the bathroom and set about cleaning the dog bite. "This is a deep wound, but it's not bleeding too much," she murmured. "I believe you're up to date on your tetanus shots, but you're going to need antibiotics. A dog bite this deep will nearly always get infected. And we need to talk to the owner to make sure Rizzo's up to date on his rabies shots."

"It doesn't really hurt," shrugged Jane.

"It will." Maura kissed her cheek. "It was very heroic of you to risk your own safety to save the kitten."

"Well, Charlotte would have been heartbroken if the poor little guy had been ripped apart by that dog. Eva would have been too."

"It would have been devastating for all of us," Maura agreed, drying the wound and applying antibiotic ointment.

"I wouldn't be _devastated_ ," Jane insisted. "But, it would be a horrible way to go. And he's just a baby, you know? He should have his whole life ahead of him."

"Well, thanks to you he will have a very long and happy life. We'll make sure of it." Maura carefully bandaged Jane's wound, and then they went to find the girls.

Charlotte was sitting on the living room couch, still crying and clutching her kitten, who was squirming to get down. Eva, who was still an astronaut, was sitting beside her, patting her older sister reassuringly on the back.

"Why are you still crying?" Jane asked her. "He's fine, isn't he?"

Charlotte nodded. "But you'll never let me keep him now. Not after I let him get away and Rizzo bit you." She was eyeing Jane's bandaged arm apprehensively.

Jane knelt in front of her. "There's no way we can let you keep the kittens—"

"I knew it!" Charlotte began to cry harder, and Eva's lower lip began trembling as well.

"Let me finish," said Jane gently. "There's no way we can let you keep the kittens if you're going to be this careless with them. Taking him outside was a mistake, because cats are squirmy and they're fast and they'll always get away from you. If I hadn't gotten there in time, Rizzo would have eaten Chewy for a snack. Next time we might not be so lucky, or the cat could go in the street and get hit by a car. It's absolutely _never_ okay to take them outside. These are indoor cats."

"Unless we get a cat stroller," Maura added.

Jane looked up at her. "They make strollers for cats?"

"Yes!" said Maura. "You zip them up inside, and they can see out, but they can't get away. It's like a cat carrier on wheels."

"No," Jane told her. "We are not becoming _those_ people." She turned back to Charlotte. "If you want to keep them, you're going to have to promise me you can take good care of them. You can push him in your doll stroller inside if he doesn't mind, but you can't take him out. They have a great big house to run around in."

Charlotte nodded. "I learned my lesson. I will never, ever take him out again, or Sally either."

"I won't either," Eva agreed solemnly.

Jane sighed. "Then since I've already received an injury while rescuing one of these furballs, I guess we'd better keep them to make it worth my bother."

Both girls jumped off the couch, cheering, and threw their arms around Jane's neck.

"We'll have to go shopping," said Maura cheerfully. "We need to get them more cat trees and scratching posts, and some extra litter boxes, and some nice food dishes."

"And toys," said Eva.

"And more food," said Charlotte.

"Oh no, they're going to take over our lives, aren't they?" groaned Jane.

Maura kissed her. "We're just expanding the family a little, that's all."

"Just don't make me regret this," Jane said, speaking to all three of her ladies.

"We won't," the little ones said in unison.

Maura kissed her again. "You know you'd never regret doing something that makes your family happy," she said softly.

And Jane knew she was right.


	6. Chapter 6: Christmas

**Happy holidays everyone!**

Chapter 6 -Christmas

December 2023

 _In which there is a ballet recital, and Eva has a few seasonal doubts_

It started back in the fall.

In many ways, it was a normal Saturday morning. Maura took her two daughters to their ballet class and waited in the hallway with other parents. She brought with her a box filled with title pages for her soon-to-be-released book. Her publisher was doing a special offer in which the first 100 pre-orders would come signed, and had sent just the title pages to Maura to sign her name on. She sat busily autographing while her daughters were in class, chatting idly with a few of the other parents. As usual, Jackie Holder sat as far away from her as possible. None of the other moms liked Jackie. She had moved to Boston a year ago from Oklahoma after her husband's job transferred him, and she seemed to absolutely hate it. She was madly overprotective of her son Nathan, who was Eva's age and desperately loved ballet. She seemed torn between wanting a manly son and wanting a happy son, and her compromise had been to sign him up for lessons and then bug the teacher about making sure he danced in the most masculine way possible. Her eyes had nearly popped out of her head when she met Jane and Maura, who were certainly not the only lesbian couple bringing children to this dance school, but seemed to be the only ones she'd met, not just here, but anywhere. When Jane brought the girls to their class, she got a kick out of doing things like "accidentally" bumping into Jackie or knocking herself out to try and strike up a conversation with her, watching the woman squirm as she tried to get out of it without seeming too rude. Maura preferred to just ignore her.

Today was not just an ordinary ballet class, however. Today the kids would find out what parts they had been assigned in the ballet school's annual junior performance of The Nutcracker. Last year Charlotte had played a mouse and had been completely adorable, enjoying the mischief she got to create in the battle scene. This year Eva would be in it too, and Maura couldn't wait to see what parts they would each play.

When class was over and children began spilling out in their leotards (or shorts and t-shirt, in the case of Nathan, whose mother would never have let him wear a leotard), Maura packed up her title pages and looked for her own girls. Charlotte appeared first, looking dejected.

"What's wrong?" Maura asked her. "Did you get your part?"

"Yeah, I'm a toy soldier," the seven-year-old told her, sitting to pull off her ballet shoes.

"So why do you look sad? That's a good part for you."

"I wanted to be a party guest. Party guests get to wear pretty dresses and twirl around. The soldiers look like boys, and they don't twirl around. They march."

"But you get to defend the house from the mice in the battle scene."

"I was in the battle scene last year. I wanted to be in the party scene this time."

Just then, Eva came bouncing out, looking thrilled. "Mommy, I'm a cookie!" she announced happily.

"A cookie?"

"A gingerbread cookie!" She grinned up at Maura, green eyes filled with glee. Maura remembered a couple early dancers performing as gingerbread cookies last year. They'd worn foam costumes, complete with a cookie head that completely hid each child's face. Maura wouldn't even know which cookie was Eva. However, Eva seemed excited, so Maura would be excited for her.

"Well, that will be fun," said Maura, pulling the five-year-old onto her lap and taking off her ballet shoes. "You like to eat gingerbread cookies, so I'm sure you'll enjoy being one."

"The mice will try to steal me in the battle scene, and the soldiers will save me!" Eva continued breathlessly, taking the tennis shoes Maura handed her and pulling them on.

"Well, Charlotte is a soldier, so that means she will save you! Charlotte, you two are in the same scene."

Charlotte pulled on her jacket and picked up her bag. "I'd rather be in the party scene," she grumbled.

"Nathan, what part did you get?" she heard Jackie saying behind them as they gathered their things to leave.

"I'm a gingerbread man!" he told her.

"A gingerbread man! Oh, how sweet! We'll have to tell Daddy."

Maura groaned inwardly. Nathan was the other gingerbread cookie? That meant she was going to be snapping pictures of _him_ during the performance because she would have no idea which one was him and which was Eva.

"I'm happy that we're in the same scene, Charlotte," Eva said as she and her sister were buckling themselves into their booster seats in the back of Maura's Mercedes. "It'll be fun."

"We're both going to look like boys," said Charlotte sullenly.

"I don't care, it's just a costume," said Eva. "Gingerbread girls can wear pants. And girls can be soldiers, too."

"They weren't back in olden times!" Charlotte informed her.

"You know, your Mama said the same thing about wearing her police uniform," Maura told her as she started the car. "She didn't want to wear it because she thought it made her look like a man."

"I thought she didn't have to wear a uniform because she was a detective," said Charlotte.

"She didn't wear one to work, but when they had special events like ceremonies to honor officers and detectives who did something particularly brave, they all wore their dress uniforms to that. Once your Mama got a medal for doing something brave, and she didn't want to put on her uniform for the ceremony."

"What did she do that was brave?" Charlotte asked, her eyes wide.

Maura thought back to that day, one of the most frightening of her life, and found the memories were still difficult to think about. She couldn't possibly tell the entire story to small children. "Some scary men came into the police station and shot your Uncle Frankie. He almost died. Your Mama caught their leader, but she was shot in the process, and she almost died too. But they both got better, and that man never hurt anyone ever again. So they gave her a medal for being so brave."

"Wow," said Charlotte.

"Did you get her to put on the uniform?" Eva asked.

Maura couldn't help smiling at _that_ memory. "She wouldn't do it. So I just started pulling off her clothes, and then I tried to put the uniform on her until she fought me off and put it on herself. She realized I wasn't playing around."

"That's what you did to me when I wouldn't get dressed for school on the first day," Charlotte noted.

"That's right, because I had practice doing that to someone much bigger than you. You were silly to think you could get by with refusing to go."

"It was worth a shot," Charlotte shrugged. "Did Mama look like a man in her uniform?"

"No. She looked beautiful and dignified. You will too, in your soldier costume, _and_ you'll get to fight with a wooden sword. It'll be a little like fencing."

Charlotte pondered this. After years of admiring Maura's fencing skills, she was now taking lessons herself, and was very good at it. "I _am_ the only fencer in my ballet class," she noted. "I would probably be the best at sword fighting."

"I'm sure you would."

"And you get to fight to save me from the mice!" Eva said gleefully.

"Maybe it's not so bad being a soldier," Charlotte conceded. "But I hope I'm a party guest _next_ year."

~R&I~

When they got home, the girls couldn't wait to tell Jane about their parts. They found her reading the paper on the living room couch, with Charlotte's black cat Chewy curled up on her lap (Sally, Eva's Siamese cat, had greeted them at the door as usual and was now in the diminutive blonde's arms).

"Mama, guess what! I'm going to be a toy soldier!" Charlotte told her. "Which is kind of like being a cop, isn't it?"

Jane grinned. "Yes, it sounds a lot like being a cop. You get to arrest the mice."

"I'm a cookie," Eva said excitedly, struggling to hold onto Sally, who looked huge now compared to the little girl. "A gingerbread cookie! The mice are going to try to _eat_ me!"

"Mmm, I love gingerbread cookies," said Jane. "You better be careful in that costume or _I_ might try to gobble you up!"

Eva squealed with laughter. "Mommy said you didn't want to put on your police uniform and she had to make you."

"Mommy did do that," said Jane. "That's what I love about your mommy: she's the kind of woman who knows what she wants and just goes after it. And she _loves_ a woman in uniform. She has a picture from that night in her study, on the desk."

"I'm going to go look," said Charlotte, darting down the hallway.

"Me too," said Eva, putting down her cat, who scampered after her.

Jane looked at Maura. "Eva's the cookie? We won't even be able to see her face."

"I know." Maura shrugged helplessly. "She's excited about it, though."

"Charlotte will make an adorable soldier, but all the cookies look the _same_. How can they put that beautiful little girl in a cookie costume?"

"I know. I haven't even told you the worst part. There are _two_ cookies, and you'll never guess who the other one is."

"Not the little boy with the bigoted mom?"

Maura nodded reluctantly. "We're just going to have to take pictures of both of them during the performance and ask Eva later which is which."

"She'll know," Jane acknowledged. "She's weird about that stuff. She always knows."

The girls came running back into the room, bearing the framed picture of Jane's medal ceremony in 2011. Jane stood in uniform, hair up, smiling reluctantly for the camera with her arm around Maura's waist. Maura was wearing a black dress, smiling quite proudly. She had been so proud of Jane that night, and so honored to be her "date."

"You looked good in your uniform, Mama," Charlotte said. "And Mommy was pretty too."

"You both looked so young," Eva observed.

"We did," Maura said softly, memories flooding her mind. She wished she could go back to that night and kiss Jane right in front of Casey Jones and Dr. Byron Slucky.

"We've only gotten better with age," said Jane, kissing Maura on the cheek.

~R&I~

So the rehearsals for the program began. At first, preparing for a Christmas performance seemed out of step with the fall weather outside, but soon the weather grew cold, leaves fell off the trees, and Thanksgiving dinner came and went, and then they were decorating their house for Christmas. Carols were in the air as the two little girls bounced around the house each day, practicing their own dances and even dances they weren't in. The four of them decorated their biggest Christmas tree, the one in the living room, together, Jane and Maura hanging breakable ornaments on the upper branches while Charlotte and Eva hung the less fragile ones on the lower branches. This was always Maura's favorite part of decorating – they always sang carols as they did so, wearing their Santa hats and probably looking ridiculous, but it was fun and felt like the kind of warm family Christmas Maura had always wanted to be part of. Nevertheless, she still liked to decorate her own tree in the parlor, and this one looked like the kind of elegant tree she'd grown up with. She had a lot of expensive ornaments on this tree, and the kids knew not to touch this one. The colorful, chaotic tree in the living room was the one they'd be getting presents under. The parlor tree was just for looks, and Maura always arranged the ornaments herself, using a mathematical formula she'd devised to space them perfectly.

She was in the middle of hanging ornaments when she heard Jane creep into the room and stand behind her. "You're holding mistletoe over my head, aren't you?" Maura said.

"How do you know?"

"Because every year when you find the mistletoe, you sneak up behind me and hold it over my head until I kiss you."

"Well, are you gonna?"

"Of course." Maura turned around and slid her arms around Jane, giving her a sweet, slow kiss. "Although, you really don't need a fake plant to get me to kiss you," she remarked when she was done.

"I know. But what can I say? I'm a romantic."

Maura chuckled. "Did you know mistletoe has been a symbol of fertility since long before Christmas existed? Some say the white berries resemble semen."

"Gross. Now I'm never going to look at this thing the same way again."

Maura kissed her again. "Well, you can just think of the sperm we bought so we could conceive our two beautiful daughters."

"Yeah, I guess," said Jane. "I'll go hang it up."

"Excuse me." Maura looked around to see Eva standing in the doorway, holding a piece of paper.

"Hey," said Jane. "Did you write your letter to Santa?"

"Not yet." She stepped into the room. "I have some questions."

"Okay, what kind of questions?" Jane asked her.

Eva bit her lip. "Is Santa from another planet?"

Jane looked at Maura and back at their daughter. "Um, I guess he could be. Why do you ask?"

"Because he does things people can't do on this planet. Is his sleigh a spaceship?"

"Maybe it is," said Jane.

"But reindeer can't fly. They don't have wings, their bones aren't hollow, and their shape isn't aerodynamic."

Even Maura had to admit that the word "aerodynamic" sounded funny coming out of such a small child's mouth. However, she surreptitiously resumed decorating her tree. She was going to let Jane handle this one.

"Regular reindeer can't fly," said Jane, "but _magic_ reindeer can. Santa has magic reindeer and a magic sleigh."

"That means they can do things that are physically impossible?"

"Well, yeah. That's what magic is: doing the impossible."

"But, if you can do it, then it _is_ possible."

"It's impossible for most of us, but not for Santa."

Eva pondered that for a minute. "But are you sure magic is really real? None of my science books talk about it."

"Science books are about science, not magic. You have other books that talk about Santa."

"Yes, but they're all fiction."

"They're fiction because Santa's mysterious and nobody knows much about him, but we know he gets your letters because he brings you wonderful presents every year. So go write your letter."

"Okay," Eva said uncertainly, going back upstairs.

Jane turned around and looked at Maura. "She's only five. How can she be having doubts about Santa already? Charlotte's seven and she's never had them."

"Charlotte loves fairy tales, so it's not hard for her to believe in a magical man who comes down the chimney and leaves gifts. Eva's a more logical thinker."

"Which she gets from you. There are two of you now."

"You said you wanted a child from one of my eggs so you could have a 'little Maura.'"

"I did say those words," Jane admitted. "I didn't realize it meant ruining the fun of Christmas for her at a young age, though. It's like she's losing her innocence, and she's just a baby!"

"It won't ruin her fun," Maura promised. "I don't think she's ready to stop believing yet."

"How can you tell?"

"Because I was standing right here, but she directed all her questions at you."

"And she knows you can't lie." Jane rubbed her face. "Am I lying to my own kid?"

"You're telling her a myth that serves as a metaphor. Santa gives without expecting anything in return, and he's mysterious. He embodies the spirit of this time of year. In a sense, he is very much real."

"Is that what you'll tell her if she asks you?"

"Maybe," said Maura. "But for now, she's asking _you_."

~R&I~

As December got underway, the Rizzoli family was constantly busy. The girls had rehearsals, Jane and Maura had Christmas shopping, and there were activities for everyone. The weekend before the junior Nutcracker performance, they took the girls to Boston's annual gingerbread house design competition, where they got to see same familiar Boston landmarks in gingerbread form, and then they took them to see a department store Santa. They had on matching silk dresses, Charlotte's in red and Eva's in gold, matching bows in their hair. Maura thought they looked darling.

"Is this the real Santa?" Eva asked while they were waiting in line.

"The store guy? I don't think so," said Charlotte. "Santa can't come to all the stores in the world, and anyway, he would be busy in his shop right now."

"Well then who is he?" asked Eva.

"He works for the real Santa. So you can still tell him what you want, and he'll tell Santa. But you have to talk to him like he's the real one or it might hurt his feelings."

When the girls' turn came, they went up and sat on Santa's lap, one on each knee. Maura smiled to herself as she remembered the first time they'd brought them both to have their picture taken with Santa. Eva had been six months old then, and Charlotte was two and a half. While Charlotte had eagerly sat down and started talking Santa's ear off, Eva had cried in terror at being held by a stranger, and Maura had quickly snatched her away. While some might take pictures of crying babies on Santa's lap and laugh at them, Maura was afraid of traumatizing the child. Once Eva was calm, they had taken the picture with Maura holding her and standing next to Santa. Not until the age of three had she agreed to sit on Santa's lap, and even then she'd been dubious about the whole thing.

She sat quietly now, listening to her older sister chatter on about the toys she wanted. Charlotte kept adding to her list, which was typical for her; Eva, on the other hand, usually had a short and very precise list that she never wavered from. She also typically had one thing she wanted most of all, and her parents always made sure she got that thing, whenever possible. This year she wanted a cardboard rocket ship she'd seen in a catalogue. It was big enough for a kid to climb inside, and the outside was made so you could color it in however you wanted. Unbeknownst to Eva, this item was already in the attic, folded up and waiting for Jane and Maura to set it up after the girls went to bed on Christmas Eve.

Finally, Charlotte stopped talking long enough for Santa to turn his attention to her younger sister. He asked her if she'd been a good girl, and she told him she had. He asked what she wanted, and she repeated her list exactly as she'd written it down. Then she told him she had a question.

"I looked at the North Pole on Google Earth, and I couldn't see any buildings," she told him.

"Ho ho ho!" he chuckled, sounding exactly the way you would expect Santa to sound. "I had to talk to the engineers at Google when they started Google Earth to make sure they didn't show my village! If people could figure out where it was, they'd show up all times of the year, trying to find out what they were getting for Christmas. My workshop has to be kept top secret."

"So they hid it on the map?" Eva asked hopefully.

"They had to! Just like with some secret government buildings."

"So it's really there?"

"Of course it is!"

"I told you!" said Charlotte. "She keeps asking a lot of questions about how reindeer fly and how you can tell if we've been bad or good."

"Having doubts already?" he said, scrutinizing the smaller of the two girls.

"My science books don't talk about magic," Eva said. "Only fiction books do."

"So you want to be a scientist?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I'm going to be an astronaut."

"You want to fly through the skies too. I understand that. But let me tell you, Eva, there's a lot science doesn't understand yet. That's why NASA needs more astronauts, so they can't study things we don't understand. You can still believe in something even if it's not in your science books."

Eva nodded thoughtfully. "Can I tell you one more thing I want? It's something I haven't told anyone."

"Of course," he said, and she whispered into his ear.

Maura and Jane exchanged a look. This was unexpected. How were they supposed to figure out what she was asking him for? And if she didn't get it, she would know Santa was just a fairy tale, even as her older sister continued to believe. Or maybe the entire experience would wreck Charlotte's fun as well. They had to find out what Eva had asked for.

But there was no chance of discretely asking the store Santa. The girls smiled for the camera as the photographer took a few shots of them, and then the next children in line quickly moved up to take their spots on Santa's lap. They were given a couple prints on the spot; Maura had filled out a form with her email address so she could be sent digital copies as well. They had no choice but to walk away, the children begging to visit the toy department.

"Eva, sweetie, what did you ask Santa for?" Maura asked.

"I can't tell you," said Eva. "It's only for Santa."

"We're just curious," said Jane.

"It's a secret," Eva insisted. "He can tell the real Santa what I asked for, right?" she asked Charlotte, clearly deciding the adults didn't know enough about the subject.

"Of course," said Charlotte. "It's always worked for me. He never brings me _everything_ I ask for, but he brings the most important things."

" _Everything_ you ask for would be a whole toy store," said Jane. She smiled at Maura. "Don't worry," she whispered into her ear. "I'm a detective. I'll figure out what she asked him for."

~R&I~

But as it turned out, Jane's detective skills were better for tracking down drug lords and murderers than they were for figuring out a five-year-old's Christmas wish. She tried approaching Eva with different types of questions, but Eva wouldn't budge. She tried grilling Charlotte, but Charlotte couldn't get it out of her either. She paged through catalogues to see if Eva had circled anything. She mentioned random items she thought Eva might like to get a reaction, but nothing worked. She even tried going back to the store to ask the Santa herself, but she quickly learned that you couldn't just go to the front of a long line of eager children when you didn't have a badge anymore. By the night of the junior Nutcracker performance, they still had no idea what her secret request was.

"I have an early Christmas gift for each of you," said Maura that night. They had just finished eating an early dinner and were about to leave for the high school where the performance was set to take place. Both girls were excited to get up onstage, which would be a first for Eva.

"Yay! Thank you, Mommy," said Eva, neatly removing the tape so she could take the wrapping paper off her present.

Charlotte just ripped through her wrapping paper. "A soldier nutcracker! Thank you, Mommy!" She stepped forwards and gave Maura a hug. "You were right. It _is_ fun being a toy soldier."

"You're my favorite toy soldier ever." Maura gave her a kiss.

"A gingerbread nutcracker!" Eva squealed, finally getting into her present. She held it up, showing a baker nutcracker in a gingerbread-colored suit holding a little plate, on which stood three gingerbread men. "It has little gingerbread cookies, just like me! I love it!"

"You better be careful when you're wearing that costume, or I'm really going to gobble you up!" teased Jane. Eva squealed with laughter.

The performance went well, even if they didn't have the faintest idea which gingerbread cookie was their daughter and which was the son of some highly unpleasant woman. Maura snapped dozens of pictures of the battle scene, making sure to get both cookies, as well as Charlotte being a toy soldier. When it was all over, the couple headed backstage in search of their children.

"Did you like it?" Eva said, running awkwardly towards them in her gingerbread suit. She had removed the head and was carrying it between her cookie-hands, with difficulty.

"I loved it," said Jane. "You were the best gingerbread cookie I've ever seen."

Eva beamed, oblivious to the fact that her parents hadn't really known which cookie was her.

"Mama! Mommy!" Charlotte ran up behind them in her toy soldier costume. "Did you see me? I got all my steps right. I didn't make any mistakes."

"You did perfect, sweet girl," said Maura with a smile. "I'm really proud of you."

"Well, we'd better get home. It's getting late," said Jane. She turned around and picked up Eva, who had put her cookie head back on. "Come on, my tasty little cookie! I'm gonna take you home and gobble you right up!"

"We have to get the girls back into their regular clothes first," laughed Maura as they made their way down the hallway. "I don't think Eva would even fit in her booster seat in that costume."

"She'll certainly be warm, though," said Jane. "All right, to the dressing room then. But when we get home, I'm eating some gingerbread cookies!"

They walked into the classroom that had been designated as a dressing room. Jane set Eva down, pulled off her cookie head, and gasped in horror.

It wasn't Eva.

It was Nathan Holder. His face was frozen in terror.

"Uh oh," said Charlotte. "You picked up the wrong cookie."

"Yes I did," admitted Jane.

Nathan looked up at her, and his lip began to tremble. "I want my mommy," he said tremulously.

"We'll find her," Jane assured him. "She's probably got Eva." She took his cookie hand and led him back out into the hall, Maura following close behind with Charlotte.

The crowd in the hallway was terrible. There were parents and children everywhere, and half the kids seemed to have been energized by the performance instead of worn out. They were spinning, leaping, and skipping all over the place, some still in costumes and some back in their street clothes. Other parents were frantically searching for their own children in the chaos. Then they spotted Jackie Holder, talking worriedly to Nancy, the dance teacher.

"Mommy!" Nathan cried, and then his tears began to flow freely. He ran towards her as fast as his cookie legs would carry him.

"Nathan! Where were you?" demanded Jackie, scooping him up.

"I was coming to find you, but then _she_ picked me up," said Nathan tearfully, looking back at Jane. "She _kidnapped_ me!"

"I didn't kidnap him," Jane insisted as Jackie turned to her with an accusing stare. "I thought he was my daughter Eva, the other cookie. Have you seen her?"

"No, I haven't seen her," Jackie snapped. "Where I come from, we keep track of our own children, unless strangers snatch them up and carry them off."

"It was just a misunderstanding," Maura assured her.

"She said she was going to take me home and gobble me up!" Nathan wailed.

"It was just a cookie joke!" Jane said quickly. "Eva would have laughed."

"Really, what sort of thing is that to say to a child!" snapped Jackie. "If he ends up traumatized, I will be pressing charges."

"Really Jackie, I don't think a crime was committed here," reasoned Nancy. "Ms. Rizzoli, where was the last place you saw Eva?"

"Right over there," said Jane, pointing to a spot where Eva clearly wasn't. "She was still in her costume, but she'd taken off the head. When I turned around, I thought she'd just put it back on."

"We lost Eva?" exclaimed Charlotte. "Right before Christmas?"

"We haven't lost her. We just don't know where she is right now," reasoned Maura. "We're going to look for her."

"Maybe she's in the dressing room," said Jane. They went back to the dressing room, but it was even more chaotic in there, and no one had seen Eva.

"Perhaps she went back to the auditorium," said Maura. So they went back to the auditorium, but there was no sign of her in the house or on the empty stage.

"She could be in the wings," suggested Charlotte, seeming to enjoy the chance to show off her theatre vocabulary even in the middle of a crisis.

There were a few kids lurking around the wings, but none had seen Eva.

"I feel like the worst mother ever," muttered Jane.

"You're not," Maura assured her. "Anyone could have made the same mistake."

"I can't believe you lost my sister," Charlotte said, looking at her parents accusingly. "I'm going to be an only child now."

"You are _not_ going to be an only child," Maura told her quickly, but she couldn't help exchanging a worried look with Jane. What if they _couldn't_ find her? What if someone had taken the opportunity to grab a small, lost girl? Some pedophile could have attended the performance for exactly that purpose, knowing it would be easy to sneak a kid out in the after-performance chaos. This otherwise happy night could be the moment when their worst nightmare came true.

Jane reached for Maura's hand and squeezed it. "We'll find her," she whispered.

They went back out to the hallway, where more parents, having finally caught their kids and gotten them dressed, were ushering them out into the cold. As soon as she spotted Nancy, Jane marched over to her, face full of resolve.

"We need to seal this building," she announced in her cop voice. "We have a missing child. Nobody goes in or out until we find her."

Just then, a woman came through the front door carrying a toddler. "Excuse me, is this someone's child?" she shouted. "I found her in the parking lot by herself."

Maura looked around and saw her own little Eva, fully dressed with her coat, hat, scarf, and mittens, dance bag over her shoulder, arms wrapped around the gingerbread nutcracker she'd insisted on bringing with her.

"Eva!" Maura shouted, running towards her daughter and lifting her into her arms. "Where were you?"

"I went to get dressed, and when I came out, I couldn't find any of you. I thought maybe you were already in the car, so I went out to check."

"You know better than to go out to the parking lot by yourself!" said Jane, running over to wrap her arms around her daughter.

"I thought maybe you forgot me," Eva said.

"We could never forget you!" Maura promised her. She held her daughter tight and kissed her head while Jane kissed her from the other side. Charlotte hugged her feet, since that was all she could reach.

"Okay, but why is everyone hugging me so much?" Eva asked.

"You scared us!" Charlotte said. "We thought you were lost forever! I thought I was going to be an only child and have no one to open presents with on Christmas morning!"

"We didn't think that," Jane said quickly. "But still, never run off on us like that again."

"Okay," said Eva. "Can we go home now?"

Maura smiled at Jane, who finally stepped back. "Yeah, we can go home," Jane said.

Once the kids were safe in their beds, Maura sat down to type an email to Nancy to make sure she had the full version of events that night, just in case Jackie Holder caused any trouble (though Maura suspected she was all talk). But first, she noticed that she had a new email from the department store where they'd taken the kids to see Santa. She was surprised by this, since they'd already gotten their digital copies of the pictures, but she opened it anyway.

 _Hi, I'm Chris McKennitt, otherwise known as Santa. You brought your two daughters in for a picture with me last weekend. I just got your email address from the files, and I wanted to let you know that your younger daughter whispered a secret wish in my ear that day. She said she wanted a star necklace in her stocking. She wasn't specific other than that; she just wants a star necklace. She said she wasn't going to tell anyone else, so I thought I'd better let you know._

Maura breathed a sigh of relief. "Jane," she said. "You didn't need to do any detective work after all!"

~R&I~

Maura walked into the parlor with two glasses of wine, handing one to Jane. It was Christmas Eve and they'd just tucked the girls into bed, but they couldn't put any presents under the tree until they knew both children were sound asleep, so they had some time to relax first. They needed it, since all the Rizzolis had been at their house that day for the family gift exchange, which always meant noise and chaos and fun.

"This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas," said Jane, putting an arm around Maura's shoulders as the blonde settled onto the couch next to her. "My family's gone, the kids are in bed, and I get to just enjoy some quiet time with my hot wife next to the Christmas tree." She kissed her tenderly. "You're like the gift I get to unwrap every year."

Maura giggled, and then she heard a creak on the staircase. "We might not be getting that quiet moment just yet."

Eva appeared in the doorway, wearing her red and green plaid flannel pajamas and her snowman slippers, carrying a plush gingerbread girl Angela had given her that day. Sally the cat walked in behind her and sat down at Eva's side, looking around protectively.

"What's wrong, angel?" Jane asked her. "Can't you sleep?"

Eva shook her head. She took a few steps forward and looked straight at Maura. "Is Santa really for real?" she asked her.

"Eva—" Jane began in alarm, but Maura stopped her. Setting her wine down on the end table, she knelt in front of her daughter and took her hand.

"Yes," she told her. "Santa is real."

Eva's eyes widened in surprise. "He is?"

"He's just as real as Christmas. He's as real as our family." She placed Eva's little hand over her heart. "Sometimes we make things real, just by believing in them."

"But he really comes and brings us presents?"

"He brings presents to children all over the world, for real." She pointed to her neck. "See? No hives."

Eva lit up. "So he's really going to come here?"

"He will, but not until you're asleep!"

"Okay!" Eva grinned. "Can you tuck me back in?"

"Of course." Maura picked the little girl up and carried her upstairs, tucking her into bed. Sally immediately curled up beside her. "Now both of you need to get to sleep. When you wake up in the morning, you'll both have treats in your stockings." She kissed Eva's head, and then kissed Sally's too for good measure.

"How did you do that?" Jane asked when Maura came back downstairs. "Why don't you have hives?"

"Because I told the truth," said Maura with a smile. "The concept of Santa is very real, and he is definitely bringing our children presents. I just didn't mention that we happen to be him."

Jane chuckled. "So what would you have said if she asked if he was really coming down the chimney?"

" _Then_ we would have been in trouble."

They settled back down on the couch and snuggled up together. "In a way, I'm surprised it even mattered to you that Eva was doubting the existence of Santa," Jane remarked. "You told me you never believed as a kid."

"Yes, but I was jealous of the kids who did. They had a fun experience that I didn't have." She took a sip of her wine. "And I think it might be good for kids to believe in magical things they can't see, at least for a while. It might prepare them for other experiences later in life, things they can't understand now."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Maura kissed her. "Like falling hopelessly in love with someone."

Jane grinned. "It _is_ pretty magical, isn't it?"

"It's the closest thing to real magic I've ever experienced. And if you think about it, what makes a group of people a family isn't blood or legal documents. It's simply believing you are a family. You make it real by believing it. When we took our vows, we believed we were a family now, and believing it made it true. There are other people who take the same vows and yet can hardly be called a true family."

"That's true," Jane agreed.

"And Christmas is only a holiday because people agreed that it should be one. It doesn't matter if you're celebrating the birth of a baby you believe to be your savior, or the return of the sun after the longest night, or just celebrating for the fun of it. The point is that millions of people all over the world decorate trees this time of year, and put up colorful lights, and gather together with loved ones, exchanging gifts and eating big feasts, and we all _feel_ something when we do it."

"The Christmas spirit?"

"Yes, you can call it that. It's a real feeling, and a real holiday, but only because we made it that way. So I decided it was the same way with Santa. There's not really a bearded man flying through the skies tonight, but kids are still going to get presents from Santa. This fictional character has come to symbolize the spirit of giving and wonder at this time of year. He may not be real the way Charlotte and Eva imagine now, but he's real in other ways that they're too young to understand. So I felt I could say he was real truthfully, and that's why I don't have hives."

Jane finished her wine. "Well, since we _are_ Santa right now, shall we go see if the kids are finally sleeping?"

Both girls turned out to be sound asleep, so Jane and Maura got on with their annual parental duty, hauling brightly wrapped presents from their hiding place in the basement and arranging them around the living room tree. They had fun setting up Eva's cardboard rocket ship – Jane had to get in it for a minute as soon as it was up – and they also set up a ride-on unicorn on wheels for Charlotte. Then they filled the stockings with candies and fruit and a few small toys. To each one, Maura added a small, wrapped package containing a child-sized necklace. Eva's had a crystal star pendant, while Charlotte's had a crystal unicorn. Everything was perfect.

"Do you want any of these cookies?" Jane asked with her mouth full.

"I'll take one," said Maura, smiling. "Do you remember the year when Charlotte was four and she got up to see if Santa had come yet and found you eating his cookies?"

"She was so mad at me!" laughed Jane. "She made me get more to leave out for Santa, and she gave me this long lecture on why I couldn't eat them. I mean, she really told me off."

"She was truly appalled that you would do such a naughty thing," laughed Maura. "And then when she went back to sleep, we had to go back and eat the new cookies."

"Yeah and then we went to bed with stomachaches from eating so much."

"The things we do for our girls," said Maura with a happy smile. "That reminds me, I have to fill the cat stockings too." The girls had insisted that Santa should come to see Chewy and Sally as well, so they now had two paw-shaped stockings hanging from the fireplace alongside the others. Maura tucked a few red and green toy mice inside each and sprinkled in some catnip. Then she heard Jane sneaking up behind her and turned around to see that she'd taken the mistletoe down and was now holding it over her head again.

"I want to unwrap my favorite present," Jane said, smiling hopefully.

Maura kissed her. "Go up and start a fire in the bedroom. I'll make sure the house is in order."

Once she'd made sure the doors were locked and everything was reasonably tidy, Maura went upstairs and looked in on each of the girls again. They were still sleeping soundly, each girl with a cat at her side, so Maura went into her own bedroom and shut the door.

Jane had a lively fire going in their bedroom fireplace and was kneeling in front of it in just her robe.

"You seem eager," said Maura with a wry smile.

"This is my real favorite part of Christmas," Jane told her, eyeing the cozy winter outfit Maura was still wearing. "So you gonna take any of that off?"

"I might," said Maura teasingly.

"Come on, it's Christmas."

"Well, since it's Christmas…" Maura flashed a grin and slowly peeled off her sweater as Jane watched hungrily. _Even after all these years, she's always excited to see me naked,_ Maura thought. She slowly unbuttoned her jeans, sliding them down her hips and stepping out of them with excruciating care.

"Maura, come on, we don't have all night!" Jane hissed. "The kids will have us up at the crack of dawn!"

"Fine, is this what you want?" Maura unhooked her bra and started to slide it off, but couldn't resist pausing right at the moment when her breasts were about to be revealed.

"Maura Isles!" said Jane, standing up. She reached out and grabbed the bra, yanking it off. Then she hooked her thumbs over Maura's panties and unceremoniously yanked them down.

"I assume you've got nothing on under this," giggled Maura, untying Jane's robe.

"You assume correctly. _I_ don't play around, not at Christmas."

Maura slid the robe off Jane's shoulders and let it drop to the floor. Now they were both naked, their skin aglow in the firelight. Jane pulled her wife close and kissed her soundly, hands freely roaming the blonde's body. Maura took her time exploring Jane's body. She'd been working out, and her muscles were nice and firm. Maura found it to be a huge turn-on. Sometimes she still couldn't believe that this incredibly sexy woman was all hers.

Suddenly, without a word, Jane spun her around and pulled her close so her back was leaned against Jane's front. Jane wrapped her right arm around Maura, right under her breasts so she was touching them both, and let her left hand travel downwards, fingers lightly touching Maura's stomach and leaving behind a trail of goosebumps. Maura drew in her breath as Jane finally reached her folds, parting them slightly so she could stroke her clit. Maura leaned her head back against Jane's shoulder, closing her eyes so she could focus her mind on the sensations Jane was creating for her. Jane stroked slowly, than faster, then slower again, fondling her breasts with the other hand, until Maura felt herself getting close to the edge.

"I need to feel you inside me," she whispered to Jane.

"Not a problem," Jane whispered back. "We need to rearrange, though. I'm getting tired holding you up like this."

"Do whatever you want," Maura gasped. She might as well have been a ragdoll at this point. Jane could have done just about anything with her.

Jane slowly knelt on the rug in front of the fire, bringing Maura down with her, and turned the blonde sideways so she was partially on Jane's lap, cradled in Jane's right arm. Then she entered her.

Maura kept her eyes closed, but she was still keenly aware of the crackling fire beside her and its warmth on her bare skin. She was much more focused on her wife, however, and on her own body as she thrust her hips to meet each thrust of Jane's fingers. Soon she felt the release she sought and her whole body seemed to soar as she let out a soft, sweet cry.

"I will never get tired of making you come," Jane said in a low, raspy voice as she caressed Maura's body.

"Nor will I, and I believe it's your turn," said Maura, sitting up. "What would you like me to do?"

Jane blushed a little, or maybe she was just flushed from working so hard right in front of a fire. "Would you mind doing a little tongue action?"

"I would love to." Maura guided Jane down onto the rug, then smiled mischievously. "Would you mind making it mutual?"

"Not at all." Jane chuckled. "You really are insatiable."

"Anyone would be with you." Maura curled onto her side, facing Jane, and kissed her way along the inside of an exquisite thigh until she found the prize she was after.

Eventually, their merry lovemaking had to come to an end, as they knew the children would be up as early as six wanting to open presents. So they put on their pajamas – a necessity when you know you're going to be awakened by excited children in a few hours – and snuggled up under the covers, feeling completely relaxed and satisfied.

"Merry Christmas, beautiful," Jane whispered as she closed her eyes.

"Merry Christmas," Maura whispered back, and then she drifted off to the sound of Jane's heartbeat.

~R&I~

It felt like they had only just gone to sleep when the bedroom door burst open and two little girls came running in.

"Mommy! Mama!" they both yelled. "Wake up! It's Christmas!"

"And it's snowing outside!" Eva added happily.

"And Santa was here!" Charlotte shouted gleefully. "He left all kinds of presents, and filled our stockings, and even the cats' stockings!"

"How do you know?" groaned Jane, rubbing her face.

"We went down and just peeked through the living room doorway to see. We didn't touch anything," Charlotte promised.

"Charlotte was going to, but I told her she'd better not," Eva said sharply.

"You are such a tattle tale!" scowled Charlotte.

"You two had better not start fighting on Christmas," Maura said sternly, reluctantly extricating herself from Jane's arms.

"We won't," the girls chorused.

"Can we go down now?" Charlotte added.

"Yes, but don't open anything until we say to." Maura got out of bed, then went around the other side to drag Jane out as well. Then the two girls bounded down the stairs, their mothers staggering along in their wake.

It was a bountiful Christmas for the two children. They both got a few new dolls and books. Eva got a new astronaut costume, since she was getting a little big for the one she had, and a NASA Lego playset with little Lego people modeled off real women astronauts. Charlotte got another princess dress to add to her dress-up trunk, as well as a toy bow and arrows set with soft, harmless arrows, although they still cautioned her that they would take it away if she pointed it at any living being, including her sister.

When she'd finished opening her presents, Eva was ready for her stocking. Maura took it down and handed it to her, noting the thoughtful look of resolve on the little girl's face. This was it: the real moment of truth. She pulled out an orange first, then a candy cane, and then she noticed the little wrapped box. Maura smiled in anticipation as the little blonde opened it, revealing her star necklace.

"Oh!" Eva gasped. She looked up, her eyes shining. "I asked Santa for this! The store Santa! He's the only one I told!"

"I told you he could get messages to the real Santa," said Charlotte around a mouthful of chocolate.

"I guess he did," said Eva in awe. She looked down at her necklace. "It's so pretty."

"Here, I'll put it on you," offered Maura.

Eva held up her hair so Maura could fasten on the necklace, and then she climbed into her cardboard spaceship and told Charlotte she was going to fly in space on Christmas Eve and see if she could spot Santa's sleigh.

Maura sat back down next to Jane, who discretely offered her fist. Giggling, Maura bumped it.


End file.
